Participating Institutions


The DISCHARGE project is a European consortium consisting of 31 partners from 18 different countries. countries. The coordinator and project managementwill is located
at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.

CharitéUMB-4c_IllCS

CHARITE – Departments of Radiology and Cardiology

Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin is a non-profit teaching and research institution for medicine and medical sciences and is located at four different sites in Berlin. Charité is one of the largest university hospitals in Europe and has become one the major beneficiaries in the European Framework Programme. The Department of Radiology (http://radiologie.charite.de/) hosts around 300 employees consisting of more than 100 physicians, 130 technicians, 17 registered nurses, and 50 research staff members at three sites. The Department of Cardiology (http://herz.charite.de) examines and treats the entire spectrum of cardiac diseases with all available modern methods and the respective equipment. A chest pain unit has also been established.

CHARITE – School of Public Health
The Berlin School of Public Health is based at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (http://bsph.charite.de) and works in close cooperation with the Berlin universities and other research institutions. Research areas of the Berlin School of Public Health are health services research with a focus on cardiovascular diseases and evidence-based prevention. Patient-reported outcomes such as health-related quality of life in chronic diseases have been investigated in various settings. Methodological expertise at the Berlin School of Public Health includes the evaluation of health care and preventive interventions in large-scale trials as well as the conduction of clinical cohort studies. The Berlin School of Public Health offers several postgraduate study programmes in public health, epidemiology, and international gender studies. In cooperation with the Technische Universtität Berlin, excellent students have the possibility to participate in a PhD in Public Health programme. Recently, the Berlin School of Public Health implemented training courses for physicians of the public health services in Berlin. The Berlin School of Public Health is part of national and international networks including the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER).

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CHARITE – Coordination Center for Clinical Studies (KKS Charité)
The Coordination Center for Clinical Studies of the Charité (KKS) is an academic CRO with 10 years of experience in the conduct of GCP-conform international trials. It provides a complete portfolio of support facilities eg. trial management, international pharmacovigilance, data management and monitoring to realise the broad requirements of the DISCHARGE project. It managed to successfully support about 200 trials within the last 8 years. Founded as a core facility of the medical faculty to support investigator initiated but also industrial trials and thus advance quality standards in patient-orientated clinical research it nowadays is part of the Charité Center for Therapy and Research at Charité. For the inititial period from 2002 to 2008 the KKS was funded also by a Grant of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. KKS is a member of different networks: it has managed a variety of clinical studies for the Network for Inborn Heart Failures (http://www.kompetenznetz-ahf.de) and the CHIR-Net (http://www.chir-net.de), a BMBF- funded Germany- wide surgical network. As a member in the German KKS-Network its quality management structure and its SOPs strictly follow the guidelines of the KKS-Network of Germany. Via the KKS-Network it also has access to the EU-wide developing ECRIN clinical trials support structures. Our scientists, physicians, nurses, medical documentalists as well as IT- and finance specialists support Investigator Initiated Trials (IIT) as well as industrial trials investigating drugs, medical devices and other diagnostic or therapeutic procedures. We conduct trials from Phase I to Phase IV comprising the whole spectrum of medical disciplines. Following the curricula developed within the KKS-Network it has gained reputation in offering a complete set of courses for education and training of medical staff on the GCP-conform conduct of clinical trials. KKS has been successfully audited several times.

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mui

MEDIZINISCHE UNIVERSITAET INNSBRUCK (MUI)
MEDIZINISCHE UNIVERSITAET INNSBRUCK (Innsbruck Medical University, MUI) (https://www.i-med.ac.at ) is a non-profit teaching and research institution for medicine and medical sciences. IMU holds one of the 3 major research university hospitals in Austria (besides Vienna and Graz). Major research areas of the IMU include Cardiac Surgery, Radiology, Cardiology, Intensive Care Medicine, Transplantation, Immunology, Oncology, Trauma Surgery, Diagnostics, Genetics, and Neurology. The Department of Radiology (https://www.i-med.ac.at/patienten/dept_radiologie.html) and the Department of Cardiology (https://www.i-med.ac.at/patienten/kliniken/innere_medizin_3.html) at IMU have experience in coordinating and participating in multicenter clinical trials. The university has a dedicated clinical study trial centre (CCS) and service-centre which will assist to organise participation in the FP7 call. There is a research focus on noninvasive cardiac and cardiovascular CT imaging, diagnostic and treatment, which has been existing for 10 years and produced a high scientific output with more than 100 papers published. There have been successful international cooperations with European and US Institutions such as Harvard Medical School, EMC Rotterdam, and University Zürich. The departments of Radiology and Cardiology at IMU are currently participating in several active multicenter studies, e.g., the ISCHEMIA trial. (NIH- funded)

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fnmotolFAKULTNI NEMOCNICE V MOTOLE (FN Motol)
The University Hospital Motol (http://www.fnmotol.cz) in Prague is the biggest hospital in the Czech Republic. There are about 2400 beds for the patients of all age groups from newborns to elderly people. The hospital is subdivided to the pediatric departments („children part“) and standard specialised departments (“adults part”). It belongs among to the most complex and the biggest hospitals in the world. The Motol University Hospital has about 5 000 staff members. The Department of Cardiology 2nd Medical School of Charles University is part of the University Hospital Motol in Prague. The department consist of coronary care units and standard care units and focuses on the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD), cardiomyopathies and peripheral artery disease. The patients with CAD include both acute coronary syndromes and stable coronary disease. Diagnostics of CAD is based on intervention and non-intervention diagnostic procedures. Invasive procedures include coronary angiography, intravascular ultrasound and measurement of fractional flow reserve. Non-interventional diagnostics procedures include exercise ECG test, stress echocardiography, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and computed tomography coronary angiography (CT-CA). CT-CA is performed in cooperation
with the Department of Imaging.

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RHREGION HOVEDSTADEN (REGIONH)
Rigshospitalet (http://www.rigshospitalet.dk) belongs to REGION HOVESTADEN and is a non-profit teaching and research institution for medicine and medical sciences and is one of Denmark’s largest hospitals with 8,000 employees. The hospital is one of Denmark’s largest educational institutions within medical science programmes. A large number of staff in the rest of the Danish national healthcare system has been trained or further educated at Rigshospitalet. Rigshospitalet is divided into six treatment centres and two interdisciplinary centres. Each centre has a number of clinics and/or departments. Also a Nursing Head of Centre/Centre Head Laboratory Technologist is part of the management of the clinical centres. Every year the hospital discharges 82.000 patients, perform 450.000 outpatient visits and conduct 54.000 operations. The hospital has 76 operating theatres. The Department of Cardiology at Rigshospitalet has vast experience in coordinating and participating in multicenter clinical trials especially in percutaneous coronary intervention, electrophysiology, percutaneous valve implantations and medical intervention. The Department has just received the ‘Global Excellence in Health’ award (2012) in acknowledgment of outstanding medical research achievements. A key developmental area of the Department of Cardiology at Rigshospitalet is cardiac imaging including, echocardiography, MDCT and MRI. The cardiac CT section is collaborating with several hospitals involved in research trials on risk assessment and primary intervention. The department is currently participating in 2 active multicenter studies on cardiac CT and several other trials in PCI and 8 study nurses are forming the responsible infrastructure. The core lab of one multicenter cardiac CT study is located at Rigshospitalet.

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afkAlb-Fils-Kliniken (ALB)
The “Klinik am Eichert, Göppingen, Germany is a general public hospital, affiliated as a teaching hospital to the University of Ulm, Germany (www.alb-fils-kliniken.de). Together with the “Helfensteinklinik” located in the same administrative district, we form the “Alb-Fils-Kliniken” with 22 clinical departments, 3 Institutes, 36.000 in-hospital and 100.000 outpatient contacts and cases annually. The Department of Cardiology, Angiology with Stroke Unit, Pneumology and Sports Medicine sustains annually app. 4200 in-hospitalcases
and app. 3000 outpatients. The major task of the Department of Cardiology is the diagnosis and the treatment of all kind of cardiac diseases. All major invasive and non- invasive cardiac diagnostics and interventions are performed. Major research area is “non-invasive cardiac imaging”.

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leipzigUNIVERSITAET LEIPZIG – Herzzentrum (ULEI)
The heart centre is a tertiary care centre and part of the University of Leipzig (http://www.helios-kliniken.de) with 430 beds and consists of the Departments of Cardiac Surgery, Cardiology, Pediatric Cardiology, Anaesthesiology and the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology. The Department of Cardiology performs approximately 12.000 cardiac catheterisations per year, including electrophysiology studies. The Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology performs around 100.000 examinations per year, around 15.000 CTs/ 5.000 MRs (1/3 is cardiovascular imaging).

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semmelweisSEMMELWEIS EGYETEM (SE)
The Semmelweis University’s Heart and Vascular Center (www.heartcenter.hu) belongs to Semmelweis Eyetie and is a high volume centre, where 6000 invasive angiography procedures are performed yearly (2300 diagnostic catheterisation, 3700 percutaneous coronary interventions). This performance places the centre among the top cardiovascular institutes in Europe. As a university hospital, besides preventing and treating diseases, the centre has a substantial role in gradual and postgradual medical education in three languages (Hungarian, English and German).

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setlogoSouth Eastern Health and Social Care Trust (SET)

The South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust (www.setrust.hscni.net) serves a population of 475,000. Three Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinics assess 2000 new patient referrals each year. A number of investigative strategies are employed including exercise EST, cardiac CT (calcium score and CT angiography), SPECT, stress cardiac MRI and invasive coronary angiography. The cardiac CT service performed 900 scans last year and is a regional referral centre for paediatric, adult congenital and TAVI pre-assessment. Cardiovascular medicine research is supported by a number of experienced and research active senior clinicians, supported by an organisation wide infrastructure. Our research staff are supported by the Northern Ireland Cardiac Research Network (NICRN) and Clinical Research Support Centre (CRSC) all have received appropriate training in research fundamentals and good clinical/research practice.

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stv_logoUNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND – St. Vincent’s University Hospital
UCD is the largest University in Ireland and has a major contractual track record in successive EU Framework Programmes, currently approximately 153 FP7 contracts. In addition UCD works closely with the major hospitals, particularly in the Dublin area and has an agreement for research training and education with the St. Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH) which is a major academic teaching hospital with a front line emergency service and national/regional medical care for inpatients and outpatients (http://www.stvincents.ie). All work will be performed under the instructions of Prof. Dodd who holds an adjunct appointment with NUID UCD. A radiographer and nurse will be recruited through the beneficiary but will be located at SVUH. The Cardiology Department is a modern state of the art unit and provides 24-hour comprehensive cardiac care including non-invasive and invasive cardiac investigations and treatments.

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it1UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI CAGLIARI (UNICA)
University of Cagliari AOU Cagliari – AO Brotzu (http://www.unica.it/pub/english/, http://www.aobrotzu.it) are the best equipped Center of Cardiology in Sardina and provide all the methodologies available nowadays in all cardiology clinics from other European countires. In the University of Cagliari AOU Cagliari – AOB Brotzu there are well know researchers in the field of cardiovascular imaging and include personalities well-known in Italy as key opinion leaders and promoters of new methodologies in the field of cardiovascular imaging. The clinical staff of University of Cagliari AOU Cagliari – AO Brotzu extensively studied the vulnerable plaque and the cardiac iron pathology using methodologies available in our clinic like CT multislice and multi-spectral imaging.

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logo_sapienza_v_200UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA (UNIROMA)
Sapienza University (http://www.uniroma1.it) is the first academic institution of Rome founded in the 14th century. The referring hospital of the faculty of Medicine is Policlinico Umberto I which is one the largest Hospitals in Europe and obtains yearly among the highest amount of Italian national founding for scientific and medical research. The Department of Radiology is a national and international reference centre for scientific, medical and educational cardiovascular and body imaging. This centre has 4 multidetector CT scanner installed and a Somatom Definition Dual Source scanner (32 x 2 x 2 detector-rows, prospective scanning achievable) will be used in this research project. The overall number of performed cardiac CT cases per year is 500 and the percentage of suspected (unknown CAD) is 40%. The Department of cardiology has two separate intensive care units and two separate catheter labs.

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paulaPaula Stradiņa Klīniskā universitātes slimnīca (PSKUS)
PSKUS (http://www.stradini.lv) operates as a state limited liability company, subordinated to Ministry of Health. It is a leading multi-functional university hospital in Latvia. PSKUS has a highly qualified expertise in cardiology, invasive cardiology, radiology, transplantology, vascular diseases, neurology, neurosurgery, and internal medicine. PSKUS has experience working with various projects funded by European Commission. PSKUS by involving its highly qualified health care personnel can take a role as a lead partner in research studies dedicated to cardiology and radiology. Web: (http://www.stradini.lv) 35 radiologists and 48 radiographers are currently employed at the Diagnostic Radiology Institute (DRI) of PSKUS. The institute provides the full spectrum of modern diagnostic methods, including invasive procedures. DRI pioneered many of the cardiac imaging techniques in Latvia. Computed tomography angiography has been performed since 2004. Latvian Centre of Cardiology (LCC) is a ranch of PSKUS. It provides highly specialised care with high quality services (interventional cardiology, arrhythmology and electrophysiology, cardiac surgery), pre-diploma and after-diploma training and scientific research. Recently we participated in DEFACTO study that compared fractional flow reserve (FFR) measured during invasive coronary angiography to non-invasive computation of FFR by cardiac CT. LCC has 11 interventional cardiologists, 50 cardiologists, 22 hospital beds and 31 outpatients beds, 4 cath labs.

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lievtuosLIETUVOS SVEIKATOS MOKSLU UNIVERSITETAS (LSMU)
The hospital of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (http://lsmuni.lt/en) is the largest hospital in Lithuania providing specialised services and it includes 34 preventive clinics and 39 inpatient departments. The Department of Cardiology represents clinical and research in the Faculty of Medicine at LSMU. The Department of Cardiology consists of 130 beds and is divided into ischemic heart disease (stable and unstable angina and myocardial infarction), heart failure, valvular heart disease, and cardiac arrhythmias units. There is coronary care unit with 18 beds as well. There are 3 catheterisation and 2 electrophysiology laboratories, imaging department and outpatient clinic. Recently we opened noninvasive imaging department with new cardiac CT, MRI and nuclear imaging (SPECT, PET) machines.

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wojWOJEWODZKI SZPITAL SPECJALISTYCZNY WE WROCLAWIU (WSS)
The Lower Silesian Diagnostic Imaging Centre (http://www.wssk.wroc.pl) is a key provider of services in the field of diagnostic radiology CT, MRI and X-ray scans, in the region. An experienced medical staff, including nurses and technicians, as well as long-time cooperation with cardiac centres will positively influence the implementation of DISCHARGE. The team is made up of specialists with experience in clinical trials.

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centroCentro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, EPE (CHVNG/E)
Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia is a General central Hospital (http://www.chvng.pt) covering one of the most populated areas of Portugal. It works as a tertiary centre for cardiovascular diseases, including surgical cases. It has formation agreements with Porto and Aveiro Universities for pre- and post- graduate formation in medical areas. The Cardiology department of Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia is a non-profit public health care provider in the cardiovascular area. Major research areas of the department include cardiovascular intervention, advanced cardiac imaging, cardiac rehabilitation, risk factors control and cardiovascular prevention. There is a distinct research focus on non-invasive cardiovascular diagnostics and management. The Department of Cardiology has vast experience in participating in multicenter clinical trials. Currently the department is involved in 5 multicenter studies.

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logo-cardiomedS.C.Cardio Med S.R.L. (CAM)
Cardio Med Medical Center (http://www.cardiomedtgm.ro) is the best equipped Center of Cardiology in Romania and provides all the methodologies available nowadays in all cardiology clinics from other European countries. The medical staffs of CAM, working as well in the University of Medicine from Targu-Mures, includes personalities well-known in Romania as key opinion leaders and promoters of new methodologies in the field of cardiac interventions and cardiac imaging. The clinical staff of CAM introduced in Romania many new methodologies including stem cell transplantation post acute myocardial infarction or in critical limb ischemia, laser angioplasty, IVUS with virtual histology, 3D echocardiography. The research focus of this centre is dedicated to vulnerable plaque, using methodologies available in our clinic like IVUS with virtual histology, plaque analysis with angio CT multislice 64 and optical coherence tomography, and research dedicated to 3D imaging in cardiology, including cardio CT 64 multislice in different clinical settings. The cardiology staff consists of 4 operators (accreditation in interventional cardiology), 5 trainees and 4 nurses. The radiology staff consists of 3 radiologists (specialists in radiology, 1 with national accreditation in computed tomography), 2 nurses and 1 technician.

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IKVBVInstitut za kardiovaskularne bolesti Vojvodine (IKVBV)
The Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Vojvodina from Sremska Kamenica is part of the University of Novi Sad and is a public non-profit university hospital consisting of two clinics (http://www.ikvbv.ns.ac.rs). The Institute is functioning as a health, teaching and scientific-research centre. The Clinic of Cardiology consists of several departments. and is equipped for all non-invasive and invasive services.

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hebronINSTITUT CATALA DE LA SALUT (ICS-HUVH)
The Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (http://www.vhebron.net) conducting the study belongs to Institut Catala de la Salut (http://www.gencat.cat/ics). It is the largest hospital complex in Catalonia and one of the largest in Spain. It has a team of around 7,000 professionals, a budget of 579 million Euros, and an area of influence of 400,000 inhabitants. In addition, the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute was created to serve the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and will provide services free of charge as a third party. The Cardiology Department has all the resources needed for the most advanced diagnosis and treatment of known heart diseases (http://www.vhebron.net/en/cardiologia). In order to perform this project, our Imaging Unit is integrated with the Radiology Department (http://www.idi.catsalut.cat/idi/on-estem/vall-dhebron). The Department has more than 5 CT scans and we also have an important Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory with three well-equipped rooms, one of which is a hybrid room (cath lab and operating theatre).

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glasgow_logoUniversity of Glasgow (Glasgow)
University of Glasgow is a member of the prestigious Russell Group of leading UK research universities (http://www.gla.ac.uk). Annual research contract income totals more than £116m, which puts the University in the UK’s top 10 earners for research. Cardiovascular research is one of the top priorities of the University. Academic and NHS cardiologists provide services at the nearby Western Infirmary and the Golden Jubilee National Hospital which are major tertiary centres serving the population of the West of Scotland. BHF Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre is part of the Institute of Cardiovascular & Medical Sciences. The purpose built centre is the home to cardiovascular researchers since 2005. The Centre benefits from close links between basic science and clinical research with dedicated lab space and a clinical research facility. The group has extensive experience in cardiac imaging studies including CT and MRI. There is close collaboration with general physicians and nephrologists who have also published extensively on cardiac and vascular morphology and function in a variety of cardiovascular and cardio-renal diseases. The Centre is currently coordinating the Marie Curie ITN ADVance and the FP7 collaborative projects EU-MASCARA and TRUST and participates in other FP7 projects including PRIORITY and EURATRANS. The Institute is fully supported by the NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Research Initiative and collaborative University and NHS pool of health practitioners directed to aid clinical research.

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aintreeAintree University Hospital (AUHT)
Aintree University Hospital (http://www.aintreehospitals.nhs.uk) is a teaching and Research based hospital affiliated to the University of Liverpool which is a member of the prestigious Russell Group of leading UK research universities. The Clinical Sciences Centre for Research and Education is a purpose built £4 million centre on the Aintree University Hospital site which forms a base for continuing research into common illness including cardiovascular disease, with research funding income of more than £20m. Honorary Academic and NHS cardiologists provide services at the Aintree University Hospital Site which is a major secondary care centre serving the population of North Liverpool, Sefton and Kirby. The Centre benefits from close links between basic science and clinical research with dedicated lab space and a clinical research facility. There is collaboration between University and NHS health practitioners directed to aid clinical research. The NHS Cardiology group at Aintree Cardiac Centre consists of 11 Consultants and has extensive experience and facilities for all modalities of cardiac imaging, working in close collaboration with the Department of Radiology.

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leidenlogoACADEMISCH ZIEKENHUIS LEIDEN – LEIDS UNIVERSITAIR MEDISCH CENTRUM (LUMC)
The LUMC (http://www.lumc.nl) delivers top clinical care in The Netherlands. LUMC has about 7000 employees. The LUMC is internationally leading in pre-clinical and clinical research, including fields that are of relevance for the project like cardio-vascular imaging, medical decision making, medical statistics, medical physics, and radiation protection.

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ostebaFUNDACIÓN VASCA DE INNOVACION E INVESTIGACION SANITARIAS (Osteba-BIOEF)
Osteba, Basque Office for Health Technology Assessment. Osteba was established in June 1992. It is accountable to the Knowledge Management and Evaluation Directorate of the Ministry of Health in the Basque Country (Spain). Osteba is 100% publicly funded from the Ministry of Health. OSTEBA works in close collaboration with epidemiology research units and the Drug Information Centre of the Basque Country and Coordinates the Spanish new and emerging health technologies/Early Awareness and Alert network. Osteba has good experience in quality management, health technology assessment and Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs). Osteba is member of several European and International networks, e.g., EuroScan (founding members), INAHTA (founding member, member of the board of directors), EUnetHTA (associated partners and members of the executive), WHO-Europe (collaborating centre). Osteba has also collaborated in other European projects such as: ECHTA-ECAHI, EurASESS, InnoHTA, ALCOVE, PHGEN II and EUnetHTA. Osteba is institutional member of the International Society for Health Technology Assessment HTAi on behalf of the Ministry of Health. Osteba has coordinated the CPG program of the Basque Country in relation to the Basque Health Service (NHS) Osakidetza and has produced 7 CPGs included in the US. National Guidelines Clearinghouse the major international database on CPGs. For further details see (http://www.osakidetza.euskadi.net/osteba/en).

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NHS Royal Hospital LiverpoolRoyal Hospital Liverpool (RLUH)

The Royal Liverpool University Hospital (RLUH) is a major teaching and research hospital located in the city of Liverpool, England. It is the largest and busiest hospital in Merseyside and Cheshire, and has the largest emergency department of its kind in the UK.

Alongside Broadgreen Hospital and Liverpool University Dental Hospital, the hospital is managed by the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is associated with the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

More information is available at (https://www.rlbuht.nhs.uk).

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UKJ-LogoUniversitätsklinikum Jena (UKJ)
Universitätsklinikum Jena (http://www.uniklinikum-jena.de) is a non-profit teaching and research institution for medicine and medical sciences. The Faculty of Medicine is the only university medical institution in Thuringia. Major research areas include age and age related diseases, sepsis and sepsis sequelae as well as medical optics and photonics. The department of medical statistics, informatics and documentation has vast experience in the statistical planning and the analysis of clinical trials. One of the research areas of the biostatistics group is the conduct of meta-analyses and development of methods for meta-analyses. Furthermore, there is a long lasting collaboration with the department of radiology at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Professor Schlattmann and Dr. Dewey have a long lasting experience in statistical research on diagnostic imaging tests. They cooperate on three BMBF funded projects and published several articles in leading medical journals together.

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turkuTurku University Hospital / Turku PET Centre (TURKU)

The Turku PET Centre at the Turku University Hospital is the Finnish national research institute on medical imaging with main research focus on Positron emission tomography and tracer development. The facilities utilize 3 cyclotrons, 19 hot cells for GMP level tracer production, 6 human PET scanners, 2 multi-slice CT scanners (in hybrid devices), 3T MRI scanner (hybrid PET/MRI), 1.5 T MRI, digital ultrasound systems animal PET/CT and optical imaging systems. All diagnostic cardiac tomographic studies except SPECT. The study portfolio includes all CT-studies for cardiac patients (Calcium score, CT angiography, atrial studies, aortic studies and TAVI scans), cardiac perfusion studies using 15O-H2O PET, viability and sarcoidosis studies using PET/CT and PET/MRI and CMR studies. The service is provided in close collaboration with the Heart Center of Turku University Hospital. For cardiac CT, GE Discovery PET-CT (64-slice CT) and GE 690 PET-CT (64-slice CT) will be used. The cardiac CT service started in 2005 and the annual number of performed cardiac CTs per year is about 500 and the percentage of suspected (unknown CAD) is 85%. For invasive coronary angiography the Heart Center of Turku University Hospital provides the service and Siemens Artist ZEE devices are used. The overall number angiographies done for suspected CAD per year is approximately 1500.
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ikradThe Institute of Cardiology in Warsaw (IKARD)

IKARD is a leading scientific and research center in Poland providing full option methods of diagnosis and treatment within cardiology, including: electrophysiology, invasive cardiology, telecardiology and cardiac surgery. The yearly activity of IKARD: 19400 admissions, 2000 surgeries, 49800 out-patients, 8800 procedures performed by the hemodynamic lab, 28800 CT/MR/XA scans, including 3000 coronary CT, As a research center, within the last four years the Institute has doubled the number of publications and increased the number of citations yearly to >2500. In 2011 the Institute also implemented IP management system and since then submitted several patent applications, including international application, which was licensed to a start-up company for further development. IKARD possess documented experience in management of projects financed by domestic and foreign bodies. The selected projects are: 1). NMF/EOG grant – No PL0060 (95/05); 2). EVINCI Study-FPVII, 3). POIG.02.03.00-00-009/10; 4). UDA-POIG.01.03.01-00-068/09- 00 5). POIG.02.03.00-00-009/10).
For cardiac CT, Siemens Definition Force (384 row), or Siemens Definition Flash (265row) scanner will be used. The overall number of performed cardiac CT case numbers per year is 3000. For invasive coronary angiography, two Siemens monoplane Axiom Artis, or Philips Allura (hybrid room) will be used. The overall case number per year is 4250 and the percentage of suspected (unknown CAD) is approximately 30 %.

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umfUniversity of Medicine and Pharmacy Targu-Mures (UMFTGM)

The Clinic of Cardiology from the County Clinical Emergency Hospital Mures, affiliated to the famous University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Targu-Mures, is the best equipped clinic in Romania and provides all the methodologies available nowadays in all cardiology clinics from other European countries. The infrastructure of this unit includes two angiography laboratories (one with new Siemens Artis Zee Floor equipment and one with Siemens Cath Lab equipment) and one Cardio CT multislice 64 scanner (Siemens Somatom Sensation). The overall number of performed cardiac CT cases per year is 1.000 and the overall case number of coronary angiography per year is 700 and the percentage of suspected (unknown CAD) is 25%. The medical staff of this clinic includes personalities well-known in Romania as key opinion leaders and promoters of new methodologies in the field of cardiac interventions for ischaemic heart diseases, networks for acute myocardial infarction and cardiac imaging. The cardiac imaging staff consists in 4 operators with board certification in interventional cardiology and echocardiography, 4 trainees and 4 nurses, having also a large experience in conducting clinical trials.

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mfubFaculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade (MFUB)

Faculty of Medicine, Univesity of Belgrade, Serbia (FMUB) is non-profit institution for medical education and research. They strongly collaborate with affiliated teaching hospitals and clinics, where clinical research is carried out. Professors of FMUB coordinate more than 50% of all national projects in the field of medical sciences, funded by the Ministry of education of the RS. Besides national, FMUB participates in many international research and educational projects (EU Framework programs, Tempus, Erasmus, NIH etc). In DISCHARGE, FMUB will be represented by one of its affiliated hospitals – Clinical Hospital Center Zemun. For cardiac CT, Toshiba Aquilion CXL 128 row will be used. The overall number of performed cardiac CT cases per year is about 350 and the percentage of suspected (unknown CAD) is 75%. For invasive coronary angiography the Siemens monoplane Axiom Artis dFA will be used. The overall case number per year is about 2000 and the percentage of suspected (unknown CAD) is 30%. Cardiology Services participated in the FP7 project BIOSTAT-CHF, which core-lab was the Department of Cardiology of CHARITE Berlin.

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osakidetazaOsakidetza-Basque Health Service (Osakidetza)

Osakidetza-Basque Health Service is the organization that provides public health care to the Basque Country population. The Integrated Health Organization Basurto-Bilbao is one of the organizational areas, which integrates the services of Basurto University Hospital and 28 primary care clinics of the largest metropolitan area of the Basque Country region. The department has 7 consultations per day where 130 primary care physicians refer patients. The hospital chest pain unit collaborates with the emergency department with more than 800 consultations/year and has the following equipment: ergometers treadmills, stress echocardiography studies, gamma graphs and in addition hemodynamics with a 24×7 Primary Angioplasty program, which performs diagnostic tests. Coronary CT is performed on a scheduled basis from 5-7 scans/week and are reported jointly by the cardiology and Rays Services. The overall number of performed cardiac CT case numbers per year is 800 and the percentage of suspected (unknown CAD) is 15%

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ecrinECRIN

ECRIN (European Clinical Research Infrastructures Network, www.ecrin.org) was a project coordinated by Inserm. ECRIN is the pan-European ESFRI-roadmap infrastructure for clinical research, and was funded by the European Commission FP7 for its preparatory phase (ECRIN PPI) and has since November 2013 an ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium) legal status.
ECRIN will be responsible to provide the infrastructure necessary for the on-site monitoring of the clinical trial and to ensure that the trial is performed efficiently with highest quality and according to Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and national and international standards.
ECRIN will cooperate with KKS Charité to perform the clinical monitoring as stated in WP4. ECRIN will be responsible for the training and coordination of the training of the clinical monitors from the national scientific partner of ECRIN or employed by the clinical sites of the DISCHARGE consortium.

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ucphKøbenhavns Uiversitet (UCPH)

The Center for Health Economics and Policy (CHEP) at University of Copenhagen was established in 2013. The aims of CHEP are to develop international state of the art research and education in health policy and health economics. The center serves as a platform for national and international research projects and educational activities related to comparative health systems analysis, health policy analysis, health economic analysis of prioritization, technology assessment, public-private collaboration, and the use of incentives to support effective health services and promote healthy life style choices.The center includes researchers from the departments of economics, public health and political science. All three departments are firmly established as leading institutions within their fields in Europe. CHEP will be responsible for developing and completing the CEA analysis in WP9 based on the preliminary work conducted within this work package.
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