Venous thromboembolism and emergency medicine – Eli Westerlund's research group

Our research group conducts clinical research studies focusing on venous thromboembolism and emergency medicine. Danderyd Hospital has the country's largest emergency department with approximately 120,000 emergency visits annually, we have a stable patient base for recruiting patients to our clinical studies. We have both national and international partners in several ongoing multicenter studies. The research is led by clinically active physicians and we collaborate with several clinics and heal

Part of the:
venous thromboembolism

Eli Westerlund is an assistant lecturer and associate professor in internal medicine. Course coordinator and examiner for semester 4 of the medical programme. Deputy head of undergraduate education at the Department of Clinical Sciences at Danderyd Hospital.
Research interests in the area of venous thrombosis and emergency medicine. Principal supervisor for two doctoral students and co-supervisor for three.
Clinically active as a senior consultant at Danderyd Hospital within the Medical Specialties Division (Centre for Haemostasis, IMA, AKM).
 

Projects

Venous Thromboembolism

The investigation of suspected recurrence of venous thromboses is a particularly complicated area, as old residual changes in the vessels of the legs can be difficult to distinguish from new thromboses. We have participated in the THEIA study, where we evaluated a new magnetic resonance method without contrast, in which the methemoglobin in a fresh thrombus emits a positive MR signal. Post-hoc analyses of the patients included at Danderyd Hospital are ongoing.

The effects of both overweight and excessive weight gain during pregnancy are being explored through register studies, where we combine data from the national pregnancy register and other national registers. We are also conducting interview studies with women who were overweight during their pregnancy to examine women's awareness of the risks associated with overweight, both for the foetus and their own health during pregnancy, childbirth, and afterwards.

We are also participating in the TETHYS study, which includes pregnant women with suspected pelvic vein thrombosis, who undergo magnetic resonance imaging without contrast to exclude isolated pelvic vein thrombosis, which can be missed on ultrasound examination.

The PE-NORDIC study is a Nordic multicentre observational and follow-up study, in which we include patients with pulmonary embolism who have received systemic thrombolysis or local catheter-led intervention. We intend to follow these patients over a year regarding quality of life, physical performance, other biomarkers, and ECG.

Emergency Medicine

We have ongoing studies in emergency medicine, RETTS triage, and short-term mortality after emergency visits. We have shown that by taking the age of patients in the emergency department into account, their severity at the visit can be estimated significantly better than with RETTS triage alone. We are also studying differences between gender, ethnicity, social status, and waiting times to see a doctor in the emergency department. Our ongoing studies are also focused on machine learning, aiming for safer patient triage in the emergency department. Collaboration has been initiated with KTH.

During spring 2025, patient inclusion began in the ACID study, a multicentre study in which we are participating and plan to follow patients admitted with diabetic ketoacidosis who are treated with SGLT2 inhibitors.

Publications

All publications from group members