Wallenberg Clinical Scholar 2015
David Erlinge, Senior Physician and Professor of Cardiology
Lund University
Heart attack is the most common cause of death world-wide. The research conducted by David Erlinge, Senior Physician and Professor of Cardiology at Lund University, spans from mapping molecular mechanisms in arteriosclerosis to new innovative treatments for preventing heart attack and reducing mortality rates in the disease.
The biomarkers currently used to assess the risk of suffering a myocardial infarction are imprecise. As Wallenberg Clinical Scholar, David Erlinge will develop methods to more successfully predict who runs the risk of suffering a heart attack in the near future; among other things he will look for new blood markers for heart attack and perform CAT scans of coronary blood vessels in order to identify vessels that are about to clog.
Individuals running an increased risk of suffering a heart attack in the near future also need efficient treatment to prevent the infarct. David Erlinge experiments with biologically degradable stents, a kind of cylinder that is placed in blood vessels in order to neutralise dangerous deposits. He also examines the prospects for new drugs to slow down the development of arteriosclerosis more efficiently than currently available drugs.
To protect the heart of patients that nevertheless do suffer a heart attack, David Erlinge has tried chilling patients to 33 °C before performing, for instance, a coronary angioplasty. In limited studies this method has yielded promising results and the effects will now be studied in more comprehensive clinical testing.
Photo: Sara Gustavsson