General Cardiology

Electrofysiology with special focus on syncope 

Syncope

General cardiology

My scientific interest derives from my clinical work with patients at the syncope unit and was shaped by my role as lead author of the initial evaluation and treatment sections of the 2018 Syncope Guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology.

Syncope is form of transient loss of consciousness caused by cerebral hypoperfusion. It accounts for approximately 25,000 emergency department visits and over 250,000 outpatient consultations annually in the Netherlands. Differentiating between patients who are high-risk (arrhythmia or cardiac syncope) or low-risk (regular faint or reflex syncope) for cardiovascular death remains challenging. This often results in inefficient testing, unnecessary admissions, and fragmented care.

My research has focused on assessing the clinical benefit and health care efficiency of the initial syncope evaluation of patients in the acute setting of the emergency department and outpatient clinic, which is the main topic the Fainting Assessment STudy (F.A.ST) research line that I have established.

This relates directly with the real-world implementation of the syncope guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology which has resulted in multiple publications, international presentations, and the invitation to lead the co-creation as a chairperson of the next syncope guideline of the European Society of Cardiology.

By achieving governmental funding I was able to continue to advance evidence-based syncope care in both academic and non-academic hospitals on a national and international level. With the aim to improve syncope care and management for syncope patients.