A 12-week cardiac telerehabilitation programme does not prevent relapse of physical activity levels: long-term results of the FIT@Home trial

The future of interventional cardiology: Machine learning algorithms for solving diagnostic and therapeutic challenges

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. In CAD, the coronary arteries, that supply the myocardium with oxygen, are narrowed or even blocked by a process called atherosclerosis. Invasive coronary angiography (ICA) is the gold standard for the diagnosis of CAD, as well as for intraprocedural...

Hysteresis Modeling of Robotic Catheters based on Long Short-Term Memory Network for Improved Environment Reconstruction

Catheters are increasingly being used to tackle problems in the cardiovascular system. However, positioning precision of the catheter tip is negatively affected by hysteresis. To ensure tissue damage due to imprecise positioning is avoided, hysteresis is to be understood and compensated for. This work investigates the feasibility to model...

Invasive Coronary Artery Imaging Using Optical Coherence Tomography: A Cost-effectiveness and Implementation Process Analysis

The aim of this project was the implementation of optical coherence tomography (OCT), an invasive intracoronary imaging (ICI) tool used for the visualization of coronary arteries. The implementation was performed in a structured manner by: (1) A literature review into the current applications of OCT in relation to current standards; (2) A thesis...

Automated Quantitative Assessment of Coronary Calcification Using Intravascular Ultrasound

Coronary calcification represents a challenge in the treatment of coronary artery disease by stent placement. It negatively affects stent expansion and has been related to future adverse cardiac events. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is known for its high sensitivity in detecting coronary calcification. At present, automated quantification...

Hydraulic catheter device for treating chronic total occlusion: A feasibility study

Chronic total occlusion (CTO) occurs in approximately a third of all patients with coronary artery disease and is one of the most challenging types of conditions to treat. Minimally invasive methods like percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) show a high treating potential as well as low costs, short hospital stay and fast recovery. However,...

A patient-specific visualization tool for comprehensive analysis of coronary CTA and perfusion MRI data

Cardiac magnetic resonance perfusion imaging (CMR) and computed tomography angiography (CTA) are widely used to assess heart disease. CMR is used to measure the global and regional myocardial function and to evaluate the presence of ischemia; CTA is used for diagnosing coronary artery disease, such as coronary stenoses. Nowadays, the hemodynamic...