Regional hospitals invest in joint research Four new projects have been granted

This year, four more research projects have been granted in the promotion fund of the Radboudumc and the regional hospitals. The research projects, which are a collaboration between Canisius Wilhelmina Ziekenhuis, Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis, Rijnstate, Sint Maartenskliniek and Radboudumc receive a joint contribution of 240,000 euros. The announcement took place in a virtual meeting on 29 October.

In order to stimulate cooperation between the regional hospitals, a promotion fund was started in 2016. From this fund the hospitals finance joint research. In the past four years 15 projects have been financed.

"A lot of research is needed to address the questions and problems in healthcare and to make a significant impact on healthcare. The beauty of a long-term and intensive collaboration like this one is that we work on topics in healthcare together in the field of research and make use of each other's unique and complementary expertise. As a result, we can ultimately create more impact for patients in the region, and that's what drives us.", says Jan Smit, dean and vice-chairman of the Radboudumc.

On 29 October, the awarded projects for 2020 were announced. The next four projects will start within this fund:

Sander Koëter (Canisius Wilhelmina Ziekenhuis) and Peter van Lent (Radboudumc)

In this study, the researchers will further investigate osteoarthritis, a common disease associated with degradation and alteration of joint tissues. In the study they try to expose the (inflammatory) processes that occur in patients with a recent joint trauma and to gain more insight into the role this plays in further pathology.

Project title: Understanding synovitis in ligamentous injury of joints: towards target identification for prevention of development of posttraumatic osteoarthritis.

Koen Simons (Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis) and Mark van den Boogaard (Radboudumc)

Due to progress in the field of health care, more and more patients survive critical situations in the ICU. However, many survivors suffer from physical, cognitive and/or mental problems that affect patients' quality of life. Due to a lack of information about long-term results, ICU physicians make decisions based on clinical experience and intuition. Patients and family members are often not yet involved in this decision-making process. In this study, the researchers will validate the prediction model of quality of life and develop and evaluate a decision-making tool to enable and facilitate joint decision-making in ICUs.

Project title: Improving shared-decision making in the ICU using patient-reported outcome

Michel Reijnen (Rijnstate) and Chris de Korte (Radboudumc)

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Current monitoring is insufficiently capable of predicting stroke, which currently leads to over- and under treatment.In this study, the researchers wish to gain a better understanding of the disease and its risks and use the results to contribute to better diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of stroke.

Project title: Personalized risk assessment of carotid artery stenosis by ultrafast ultrasound flow imaging

Dr. Noël Keijsers (Sint Maartenskliniek) and Sander Geurts (Radboudumc)

Stroke is the main cause of disability in the western world. Gait disorders due to deformity of the foot (clubfoot) often occur in patients with stroke. Surgical interventions are therefore recommended to restore a normal ankle foot position. However, despite excellent clinical experience, the evidence for surgery is limited. This study looks at the effect of surgical correction and comparison with non-surgical procedures. And to the effect of gait training in a VR environment compared to regular physiotherapy after undergoing surgery.

Project title: Towards evidence-based gait rehabilitation in chronic stroke patients with pes equinovarus deformity.