Dineke L. Koek
Dineke L. Koek
The mission of my research is: 1) to gain insight in the etiologic and prognostic impact of vascular disease on geriatric outcomes, particularly of cerebral small vessel disease on cognitive and motor decline, and 2) to develop new pharmacological treatment for patients with cognitive and motor decline, particularly for patients with preclinical and clinical Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, and with Fahr’s disease.
As the cause of cognitive decline and dementia is largely unknown, an efficient disease modifying treatment is not available. The same holds for Fahr’s disease. My research provides new insights in possible underlying vascular causes of these severe diseases. The ultimate goal is to develop new pharmacological treatments. Apart from cognitive impairment, physical impairment is highly prevalent in older patients and often has a multifactorial cause. My research unravels the impact of cerebral small vessel disease on physical impairment, which can yield new insights for preventive treatment.
Contact
Email: h.l.koek@umcutrecht.nl
Phone: 088-7571717
Keywords research
Small vessel disease, Fahr, cognition, dementia, mobility
Research topic
Cerebral small vessel disease in relation to geriatric outcomes (cognitive impairment, physical impairment)
Type of research
To fulfill my research mission, I am involved as investigator in the several ongoing projects, including:
1) the Pearl Neurodegenerative Diseases cohort study (co-principal investigator). In this study, patients referred to collaborating memory clinics of eight Dutch University Medical Centers are included (n=1,000). In the UMC Utrecht, our Parelsnoer research focusses on the impact of cerebral small vessel disease on cognitive and motor decline.
2) a project that studies the impact of vascular disease and risk factors on prognosis of dementia using a nationwide cohort of patients with dementia (n=60,000) (principal investigator). This is a collaboration between the Department of Geriatric Medicine and the Julius Center of the UMC Utrecht, Statistics Netherlands, and the national Hospital Discharge Register.
3) several research projects that study the relation between vascular calcifications in the hippocampus and basal ganglia, and cognitive or motor decline (principal investigator). A specific study population in these projects involves patients with Fahr’s disease. These projects are collaborations between the Departments of Geriatric Medicine, Radiology, Pathology, and Genetics of the UMC Utrecht and Tergooi Hospitals.
4) several RCTs on new drugs for cognitive impairment (principal investigator). We are preparing a RCT with drugs that potentially can lower vascular calcification burden in patients with Fahr’s disease and improve clinical outcomes (CALCIFADE study).
5) the Utrecht Cardiovascular Cohort (UCC). The UCC represents a biobanking cohort with the purpose of generating a similar and exchangeable dataset and biomaterials from all cardiovascular patients treated in the UMC Utrecht. Many patients from the outpatient clinic of our geriatric department are included in this cohort.
6) the DEMIN study (collaboration with UMC Groningen). The DEMIN study aims to improve healthcare of descendants of patients with Alzheimer’s or vascular dementia by means of a cluster RCT that investigates the uptake and effectiveness of a tailor-made lifestyle program targeting risk and protective factors for dementia.
7) the PRECODE-GP study (collaboration with VU UMC). This is a Dutch multicenter study to investigate the number and characteristics of patients with early-onset dementia at all Dutch memory-clinics in the Netherlands.
Collaborations / partnerships
Links Public Private Partners: