The Center for Heart Failure Research (CHFR) was established in 2002 and has since then promoted the integration of high quality research from bench to bedside. Center members have a broad range of expertise, covering state-of-the-art gene technology, protein function, integrative physiology in pathophysiological models and clinical studies. This collective knowledge and active research collaboration has resulted in more than 200 scientific publications each year.

The Annual Symposiums that began in 2003 have constituted an important platform for networking, introduction of up-and-coming academic talents, along with impressive research results, not to mention the presence of important international speakers shedding light on recent advancements in cardiovascular research.

GE Vingmed Ultrasound together with Oslo University Hospital, University of Oslo, KU Leuven, University of Maastrich, Jessa Hospital in Belgium and Medaphor were recently awarded 1.6 million euros for a Marie Curie project that will utilize artificial intelligence to diagnose a number of heart disorders. Several of the international partners in the new project have previously been central to CCI's international research collaboration. Over the years, the network and the exchange of skills have been strengthened through joint workshops, studies presented at both national and international conferences and, not least, the exchange of students and professionals.

Several researchers presented their latest studies at the annual Congress of European Society for Cardiology, the largest get-together of its kind. Elevating the Congress further this year was its conjunction with the World Congress of Cardiology, putting the spotlight on global cardiovascular health, highlighting differences in prevalence, clinical manifestations, prevention strategies, diagnostic modalities and management of cardiovascular diseases around the world, as stated on the ESC webpage.

PhD fellow Christine Rootwelt, MD, presented the study Apparent sex differences in risk of life-threatening events in arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy are related to exercise habits, which concluded that sex differences in arrhythmic risk in arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (AC) were attributable to higher exercise doses in male AC-patients. This highlights the importance of exercise assessment in these patients, and challenges the current opinion of male sex as a risk factor in itself. Risk stratification based on sex may underestimate the risk of physically active female AC-patients.

PhD fellow Monica Chivulescu, MD presented the study “Structural progression increases the risk of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy”. The study concluded that disease penetrance was fairly high in family members both at inclusion and during follow-up. Rate of progression was similar in probands and family members with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy and structural progression was associated with higher incidence of severe arrhythmic event in arrhythmia free patients during follow-up.

The study was simultaneously published in the European Heart Journal (https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehz570)

Prof Perry Elliott from University College, London, United Kingdom and Benjamin Meder, University of Heidelberg, Germany talk about the study in a ESC Cardio Talk podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, The Podcast App. (https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/What-we-do/news/ESC-Cardio-Talk)