Erik Klok

As the title of my thesis (2010) implies, I have been involved in studies on the diagnostic management and prognosis of venous thromboembolism since 2007. The focus of these studies is on answering questions as “How can the diagnostic management of suspected venous thromboembolism be optimized?”, “How can findings of diagnostic studies be implemented in clinical practice?”, “How can the clinical course of venous thromboembolism be predicted and positively influenced by medical interventions?” and “What is the pathophysiologic mechanism behind post-thrombotic symptoms and unresolved thrombi and how can diagnose and treat these sequelae as fast and effective as possible?”. The answer to these questions is especially relevant for curtain patient groups or clinical circumstances that have been understudied up till now, such as pregnant women, elderly and patients with cancer.

The combination of a clinical position at the Leiden University Medical Center and a position as visiting Professor in the Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis in Mainz (Germany) allow me to participate in local cohort studies, large international trials but also on translational research projects, such as the Theia study that aims to validate the diagnostic accuracy of MRDTI for the diagnosis of recurrent ipsilateral DVT, the InShape-II study which is a prospective multicenter management study to validate a screening algorithm for CTEPH, the PEITHO-II study that evaluates the safety and efficacy of dabigatran in patients with intermediate risk pulmonary embolism, the HOME study which is an international RCT that focusses on the comparison of different strategies to identify patients with pulmonary embolism who may be treated safely at home, and the Years-pregnancy study that will evaluate the safety and efficacy of a simple diagnostic algorithm for the management of suspected pulmonary embolism in pregnant patients.

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