Due to copyright issues, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. For the faculty to have time to process the order, the order must be received by the faculty at the latest 2 days before the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. After the public defence, please address any inquiries regarding the thesis to the candidate.
Trial Lecture – time and place
See Trial Lecture.
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Professor John Pernow, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
- Second opponent: Professor Truls Myrmel, University Hospital of North Norway
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor Sigrun Halvorsen, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Associate Professor Jørgen Gravning, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Consultant Cardiologist Kaspar Broch, Oslo University Hospital
Summary
Despite urgent myocardial reperfusion with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), morbidity and mortality remain substantial in patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction. Adjuvant therapeutic strategies targeting inflammation might limit infarct size and improve outcomes.
The overall aim of this thesis was to assess the effect of anti-inflammatory strategy of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) inhibition as an adjuvant therapy to improve myocardial salvage and limit irreversible myocardial injury in patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).
This investigator-initiated phase 2, randomized-controlled trial of 199 first-time STEMI patients was conducted at three high-volume PCI-centers in Norway. Our results show that IL-6 receptor inhibition improves myocardial salvage in STEMI patients presenting within 6 hours from symptom onset of PCI.
IL-6 receptor inhibition in acute myocardial infarction is a promising anti-inflammatory target to limit infarct size and might be further investigated in larger endpoint-driven clinical trials.
Additional information
Contact the research support staff.