Sensing and Stimulation of Circulation and Ventilation: Acute and Chronic Care

Cardiopulmonary diseases are a heavy burden to both individual patients and society. Technological advances might aid in the prevention, prediction and treatment of acute and chronic cardiac and/or pulmonary diseases.

The Technical Medicine professional must be able to monitor circulatory and respiratory systems and to stimulate these in both acute and chronic settings, based on anatomical, physiological, pathological and epidemiological insight. The students acquire in depth knowledge on the characteristics and limits of cardiovascular and respiratory sensing and stimulation techniques. Furthermore, the Technical Medicine professional must be able to advise which type of sensing and/or stimulatory technique is needed in acute and chronic settings and must know its technical and clinical limits.

An important focus of this course will be monitoring and support of the circulatory and ventilator system in the chronic care setting such as in the case of heart failure and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Asthma. Another important focus of this course will be sensing and stimulation in a patient with acute dysregulation of the circulation and ventilation (e.g. in acute care during surgery and in the ICU).

The following topics will be explored:

• In depth anatomy and (patho)physiology of heart, lung and circulation, building on the knowledge acquired in the BSc-KT

• Epidemiology of cardiopulmonary and vascular disease

• Prevention and eHealth

• Early detection of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease

• Monitoring and therapy in chronic care

• Circulation: monitoring the complete cardiovascular status of the patient over time with established and new biosensors (e.g. blood pressure, heart rate, rhythm, cardiac output, biomarkers)

• Respiration and ventilation: monitoring the respiratory and pulmonary status of the patient over time with established and new biosensors

• Monitoring and therapy in acute care

• Circulation: stimulation and/or support of the cardiovascular system (e.g. pacemaker, IABP, ECMO, ECLS, LVAD, RVAD)

• Respiration and ventilation: stimulation and/or support of the respiratory system (e.g. mechanical ventilation, diaphragm stimulation)

• Expert systems to be applied in acute and chronic care