Public Defence: Eivind Westrum Aabel

MD Eivind Westrum Aabel at Institute of Clinical Medicine will be defending the thesis “Prediction of arrhythmic risk in patients with mitral annular disjunction” for the degree of PhD (Philosophiae Doctor).

Photo: Øystein Horgmo, UiO

Due to copyright issues, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. For the faculty to have time to process the order, the order must be received by the faculty at the latest 2 days before the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. After the public defence, please address any inquiries regarding the thesis to the candidate.

Trial Lecture – time and place

See Trial Lecture.

Adjudication committee

  • First opponent: Professor Katja Zeppenfeld, Leiden University Medical Centre, The Netherlands
  • Second opponent: Associate Professor Peter Moritz Schuster, University of Bergen
  • Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Associate Professor John-Peder Escobar Kvitting, University of Oslo

Chair of the Defence

Associate Professor Are Martin Holm, University of Oslo

Principal Supervisor

Professor II Kristina Hermann Haugaa, University of Oslo

Summary

Mitral annular disjunction is a gap between the mitral ring and the ventricular myocardium, and is associated with mitral valve prolapse. A minority of these patients experience life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias, but the incidence of such arrhythmias is largely unknown and estimating risk is challenging. In the doctoral thesis “Prediction of arrhythmic risk in patients with mitral annular disjunction”, Dr. Eivind Westrum Aabel and colleagues assessed the incidence and explored possible risk markers of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with mitral annular disjunction. The three studies of this thesis describe the incidence rate of ventricular arrhythmias and describes possible predictors of increased arrhythmic risk in patients with mitral annular disjunction.

The first study described the incidence of ventricular arrhythmia using continuous heart rhythm monitoring, and shows a high rate of first time ventricular arrhythmia and re-events. The second study assessed patients using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and was the first study to describe the finding of concomitant right-sided annular disjunction. The third study described the prevalence of electrocardiogram features and reported that T-wave inversion was associated with prior ventricular arrhythmia and diffuse myocardial fibrosis.

These observations improve our knowledge of risk stratification and provide clinicians caring for patients with mitral annular disjunction valuable information when evaluating the need for different follow-up strategies. External validation in larger prospective studies are important before fully implementing these observations in clinical practice.

Additional information

Contact the research support staff.

Published May 9, 2023 8:41 AM - Last modified May 23, 2023 1:25 PM