Projects

projectsPioneering the Future of Cardiovascular Health

We are driving groundbreaking initiatives that redefine cardiovascular care through innovation, technology, and data-driven solutions. Our projects harness the power of precision medicine, early disease detection, and artificial intelligence to revolutionize patient outcomes.

By integrating interdisciplinary expertise with cutting-edge methodologies, we strive to set new benchmarks in cardiovascular research, diagnosis, and treatment. With a commitment to pushing the boundaries of medical science, ACCC is shaping a future where heart health is more personalized, predictive, and proactive than ever before.

ACCC

Current projects

AI4HF

The AI4HF project focusses on co-design, development, evaluation and exploitation of integrative and thrustworthy artificial intelligence solutions for personalized heart failure risk-assessment.

These tools will be trained using large-scale complementary multi-source cardiovascular data including cardiac imaging, -biomarkers, electrocardiography and free text data. Within the project, great emphasis is placed on the concept of trustworthy and inter-dicilplinary tool design, to ensure that developed tools are trusted, approved and deployed in a real world setting and providing clear benefit for patients, cardiologists, physicians and health-care providers. The consortium is led by Amsterdam UMC and Amsterdam UMC focusses on defining requirements for the development of trustworthy AI, model development and explainability. More information about the consortium partners and work packages can be found at www.ai4hf.com

  • Folkert Asselbergs (consortium lead)
  • Floriaan Schmidt
  • Stefan Smorenburg
  • Alicia Uijl
  • Machteld Boonstra

Check@Home

The main aim of the Check@Home consortium is to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes by 25% in ten years by developing a national program for early detection.

Check@Home aims to design a cost-effective and accessible screening programme for early detection of cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic diseases in people aged 50–75, with special focus on reaching all socio-economic groups. The programme takes place in the citizen’s own living environment and is co-developed with citizens and local initiatives, to ensure long-term sustainability. Check@Home is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO, grant nr. KICH2.V4C.20.005) and financial contributions from the Dutch Heart Foundation, the Dutch Kidney Foundation, the Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation, and various private partners, including Roche Diagnostics, AstraZeneca, Siemens Healthineers, Topicus, and Happitech. More information on  https://checkathome.nl/

A total of 160,000 individuals in Breda, Utrecht, Arnhem and Eindhoven will be invited to participate using the Check@Home digital platform. If early signs of disease are detected, participants are referred for targeted follow-up, lifestyle advice or treatment. The outcomes will inform the roadmap for a nationwide screening strategy and contribute to more affordable and effective preventive healthcare.

  • Folkert Asselbergs (co-consortium lead)
  • Stephanie van der Voorn

DataTools4Heart

Within the datatools4heart project, the co-creation, development and demonstration of a comprehensive, federated, privacy-preserved cardiology data toolbox including standardized data ingestion and harmonization tools, multilingual natural language processing and federated machine learning and data synthesis methods.

With the development of a public data catalog combined with virtual assistants, scientist and clinicians can navigate easily through large-scale multi-source cardiology electronic health record data, while complying to the European regulations and data standards. Amsterdam UMC participates as one of the clinical sites, focusing on data harmonization, adoption of a federated learning platform and free-text analysis using natural language tools.

More information about the consortium partners and work packages can be found at www.datatools4heart.eu

  • Folkert Asselbergs
  • Alicia Uijl
  • Noman Dormosh
  • Sean Benson
  • Machteld Boonstra

Heart4Data

The main aim of the Heart4Data consortium is to develop a sustainable infrastructure for cardiovascular registry-based research in the Netherlands. Heart4Data is funded by Hartstichting and ZonMW.

The infrastructure includes a framework/structure for the governance, and the ethical, legal, financial, technological and methodological factors. There will be a special focus on heart failure in this project by creating a sustainable heart failure (and atrial fibrillation (AF)) registry in the Netherlands Heart Registration (NHR) and links with other relevant national and regional registries and data sources.

To use and prove value of the infrastructure two proof-of-concept projects will be conducted:

  • Observational, longitudinal research on the entire spectrum of patients with heart failure (including patients with HFpEF) in the Netherlands with focus on guideline recommended diagnostic trajectories and treatment.
  • Prospective randomized clinical research on pharmaco-therapeutic treatment in patients with chronic heart failure as the first registry-based trial (SELEQT-HF).

Using the results of this project, healthcare processes could be optimized, innovative research could be conducted, including improving clinical guidelines, resulting in better care and better outcomes for the patient.

  • Folkert Asselbergs
  • Alicia Uijl

HOVON 170 - ANTICIPATE trial

This is a national, multicenter, randomized controlled phase III trial designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of dexrazoxane for the primary prevention of anthracycline-induced cardiac dysfunction in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Anthracyclines are a potent class of chemotherapeutic agents widely used in the treatment of various cancers, including breast cancer, acute leukemia, and high-grade lymphomas. However, they are also notorious for their cardiotoxicity, which can lead to heart failure. Dexrazoxane has been investigated in several studies for its potential to mitigate anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity, yet its use in routine clinical practice remains limited.

In this trial, patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the most common subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, are randomized to receive either no cardioprotective treatment (the current standard of care) or dexrazoxane administered prior to each cycle of R-CHOP immuno-chemotherapy.

The follow-up of these patients is in line with recommendations in the cardio-oncology guidelines released by the European Society of Cardiology in 2022. The primary outcome of the trial is the incidence of anthracycline-induced cardiac dysfunction within 12 months of randomization. The co-primary endpoint is the percentage of patients with complete metabolic-remission at the end of treatment PET-CT, to ensure that dexrazoxane does not influence the antineoplastic efficacy of the cancer treatment.

Recruitment for HOVON 170 DLBCL – ANTICIPATE has started in September 2024 and is expected to last for three years. The trial is registered at the EU Clinical Trials Register (EU-CT number 2023-505377-32) and ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT06220032).

  • Marijke Linschoten (co-PI, cardiology lead)
  • Folkert Asselbergs

PROMPT-HF-AUMC

This is a nudging trial performed in the Amsterdam UMC. Nudging trials are designed to explore the effectiveness of subtle behavioral interventions, known as “nudges,” in influencing people’s or doctor’s decisions and actions without restricting their freedom of choice.
PROMPT-HF-AUMC aims to investigate the effectiveness of a best practice alert in the EHR for optimizing the treatment of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) using guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) in the cardiology outpatient clinic.
  • Alicia Uijl
  • Didier Collard
  • Folkert Asselbergs

AIXPERT

Within the AIXPERT project, we focus on the development of AI systems which are fully explainable, transparent, accountable and robust, and promote trust in human-machine interactions. AIXPERT will build an adaptable framework that can encompass AI-enhanced decision support systems and increase their overall reliability.

In the AIXPERT project, multi-agent systems are integrated with multimodal AI-models and integrate real-time human feedback. The human-centered design ensures that AI technologies are adaptable, ethical and tailored to the needs of the user. Through advanced monitoring and adaptability, AIXPERT aims for transparent, understandable and generalizable AI systems. ACCC’s role in the current project is to further develop and test a clinical decision support model leveraging such different AI agents.

  • Folkert Asselbergs
  • Machteld Boonstra
  • Noman Dormosh

Wearables

Wearable monitoring allows for continuous, real-time, non-invasive data collection, providing a comprehensive picture of patients over time, instead of solely being limited to
data collection during hospital visits. Integration of such daily monitoring within the current clinical workflows, allows for optimized patient management and outcomes. The specific focus is to establish a vendor neutral platform within Amsterdam UMC to collect wearable data from different devices and applications to be utilized in different research project and in the future, integrated in clinical care pathways. Direct collaboration exists with Sport Data Valley and Researchable to set up the integration of the wearable data ecosystem with local Amsterdam UMC infrastructures.

The wearable project focusses on the continuous collection of wearable data for both research and clinical purposes to enhance the early detection of adverse events and streamline patient management. The collection of the continuous raw measurement (ECG, PPG) and derived measurements (heart rate, activity, sleep) allows for the development of novel algorithms to monitor patient physical status and identify disease worsening in early stages.
  • Folkert Asselbergs
  • Stephan van der Zwaard
  • Machteld Boonstra

CARE-Heart

The main aim of the CARE-HEART project is to develop and evaluate an AI-driven tool to support timely and personalised palliative care planning in patients with heart failure.

Each day, 22 people in the Netherlands die from heart failure. Many patients experience multiple hospital admissions in their final year of life, negatively affecting their quality of life and increasing healthcare costs. Current guidelines lack concrete support for initiating timely palliative care. CARE-HEART addresses this gap by developing and validating an AI-based prediction model that estimates whether a heart failure patient is entering their final 12 months of life. The model will be integrated with electronic health records to facilitate early transition to comfort-oriented care, reduce avoidable admissions, and improve quality of life. CARE-HEART is funded by ZonMw. More information on https://projecten.zonmw.nl/nl/project/ai-voor-risicoschatting-en-zorgplanning-bij-hartfalen-care-heart

The project follows five phases: model development and validation using linked data from Amsterdam UMC and the Amsterdam General Practice Network (ANHA), stakeholder engagement, clinical evaluation, implementation, and health economic analysis. A virtual clinical trial will evaluate the model’s performance, while educational tools will support implementation. CARE-HEART collaborates with patients, cardiologists, GPs, and palliative care providers to ensure broad applicability. The model will be integrated in hospital and GP systems and locally adaptable to different care settings, aiming to reduce admissions and support patient-centred, transmurale care.

  • Alicia Uijl (PI)
  • Mathilde Tans