The Amsterdam University Medical Centre (AUMC)
The Amsterdam University Medical Centre (AUMC)
uitklapper, klik om te openen
Partner Information uitklapper, klik om te openen
The Amsterdam University Medical Centre (location AMC) is one of the largest hospitals and most renowned research institutions in The Netherlands, and belong to the international top of academic medicine. With over 15000 employees, the AMC provides integrated patient care, fundamental and clinical scientific research, and teaching. The AMC complex houses the University Hospital and the Faculty of Medicine of University of Amsterdam, as well as the Emma Children’s Hospital, the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, the Medical Department of the Royal Tropical Institute, the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development and the recently opened Amsterdam Skills Centre. Also located on the premises are a number of biotech companies (of which some AMC spin-offs) and independent medical institutes including the Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging. This concentration of expertise and skill enables fruitful scientific collaboration. The AMC currently hosts 47 European funded projects (9 projects as coordinator, 26 projects as beneficiary and 12 fellowships) in various programmes and actions.
The Department of Radiotherapy is one of the largest in Europe, treating 6000 patients a year, with a strong expertise in stereotactic radiotherapy at several sites (e.g. lung and brain) and has published several key articles in this field.
The Cardiology Department is a tertiary referral centre and a centre of expertise in several subspecialties (e.g. genetic heart disorders and heart devices), for both clinical care and research. Cardiologist-electrophysiologists perform ablations and device implementations on a daily basis; therefore the department is well equipment and highly experienced in catheter ablations. In addition, the Cardiology Department has experience with non-invasive ECG-imaging and body surface potential mapping since >30 years.
The departments of Cardiology, Radiotherapy and Radiology are already extensively collaborating in the field of radioablation. The STOPSTORM team of AMC consists of a radiation oncologist, radiation physicist and image-guided experienced radiotherapist (RTT), that are involved in teaching courses at the ESTRO about radiotherapy. The (pre-)treatment workflow of cardiac radioablation is well documented and performed
Personnel uitklapper, klik om te openen
Prof. Dr. Joost Verhoeff
Prof. Dr. Joost Verhoeff is a radiation oncologist, professor and chair of radiation oncology at A-UMC. He has extensive experience with stereotactic treatment of lung tumors, as well as brain tumors and cardiac SBRT. He is the founding coordinator of the STOPSTORM consortium.
Dr. Brian Balgobind
Since 2016 Dr. Brian Balgobind has been working as a radiation oncologist at the Amsterdam UMC. His main interest is in stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) and adaptive radiotherapy. These techniques allow achieving optimal local control with less toxicity. Since 2019 Dr. Balgobind has been involved in the implementation of the new VARIAN ETHOS systems at the department, which gives the possibility for daily patient treatment with an adaptive plan. Next to that, he is exploring a new field in radiotherapy by using cardioablation in cardiac diseases. His further work involves SBRT for liver, bone and spine and also disease specific interest in sarcoma’s and hematology.
Prof. dr. Ben Slotman
Prof. dr. Ben Slotman is professor and chair of radiation oncology at AMC. He is also the president of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO; 2020-2022).
Dr. Pieter Postema
Dr. Pieter Postema is associate professor and an EHRA Certified Electrophysiology Specialist and EHRA Certified Cardiac Device Specialist. His patient care, research and teaching predominantly focusses the pathophysiology and treatment of both inherited and acquired ventricular arrhythmias. He initiated the first Dutch trial for arrhythmia radiotherapy (STARNL-1), closely collaborates with Dutch and international centres in this field and recently initiated the first systematic review on arrhythmia radiotherapy.
Dr. Wiert Hoeksma
Wiert Hoeksema is a medical doctor and PhD candidate under supervision of Pieter Postema. His PhD project includes the diagnostics, pathophysiology, and management of malignant cardiac arrhythmias, with a focus on stereotactic arrhythmia radiotherapy (STAR). In the upcoming years, he will be the trial coordinator of the second prospective trial on STAR in Amsterdam, the STARNL-2 trial.
Dr. Martijn van der Ree
Martijn H. van der Ree is a medical doctor and electrophysiology research fellow in the Amsterdam UMC. Since 2018 he is involved in research evaluating Stereotactic Arrhythmia Radiotherapy (STAR). His research work focusses on clinical aspects of STAR treatment and resulted in several publications in scientific journals. He is the trial coordinator of the first prospective of trial in Amsterdam (STARNL-1 trial).
Dr. Edith Dieleman
Since 2008, Dr. Edith Dieleman has been working as a radiation oncologist at the Amsterdam UMC. Her main interest is in neuro-oncology and lung cancer. Since 2019, Dr. Dieleman has been involved in a new field in radiotherapy by using cardioablation in cardiac diseases.
Jorrit Visser
Jorrit Visser is a medical physics expert at the radiotherapy department at Amsterdam UMC. His main interest is radiotherapy treatment planning and he is involved in treatment planning for stereotactic arrhythmia radioablation.
Publications uitklapper, klik om te openen
- Van der Ree MH, Blanck O, Limpens J, et al. Cardiac radioablation - a systematic review’. Hear Rhythm 2020. In press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrthm.2020.03.013.
- van Dijk IWEM, Visser J, Wiersma J, et al. Heart volume reduction during radiotherapy involving the thoracic region in children: An unexplained phenomenon. Radiother Oncol 2018; 128: 214-20.
- Palma DA, Olson R, Harrow S, et al. Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy versus standard of care palliative treatment in patients with oligometastatic cancers (SABR-COMET): a randomised, phase 2, open-label trial. Lancet 2019; 393: 2051-8.
- Postema PG, van Dessel PF, Kors JA, et al. Local depolarization abnormalities are the dominant pathophysiologic mechanism for type 1 electrocardiogram in brugada syndrome a study of electrocardiograms, vectorcardiograms, and body surface potential maps during ajmaline provocation. J Am Coll Cardiol 2010; 55: 789-97.
- Postema PG, van Dessel PF, de Bakker JM, et al. Slow and discontinuous conduction conspire in Brugada syndrome: a right ventricular mapping and stimulation study. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol 2008; 1: 379-86.
