Frits Prinzen

Professor

Frits Prinzen is emeritus professor of Physiology. He studied Medical Biology in Utrecht and defended his PhD in Maastricht in 1982. His research focusses on the relation between the electrical activation and mechanical contraction and pump function of the heart, with specific application to pacemaker therapies in heart failure. His work is highly translational, ranging from preclinical to clinical research and more recently also using computer simulations. Results from his work provided new insights in and opportunities for pacemaker therapies. He has participated in the CTMM-COHFAR consortium and has been and is workpackage leader in several EU-funded projects, including an International Training Network (Personalised in silico Cardiology). Several of his team members achieved personal grants (ZonMw Veni, Vidi, Clinical Fellow; Netherlands Heart Foundation junior and senior postdoc; young staff member). Besides, he ran multiple investigator-initiated studies that were funded by industry. He has been chairman of the Cardiovascular System Dynamics Society and of the Innovation Committee of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA). Currently he is member of the Scientific Initiatives Committee of EHRA. He is (co-)author on 330 scientific articles, with >10,000 citations and H-index of 56.

His main research topic is regional cardiac mechanics and long-term structural and functional adaptations to various conditions, with emphasis on asynchronous electrical activation and cardiac resynchronisation. Primarily animal experimental work, but with important links to Biomedical Engineering (computer models of cardiac electrophysiology and mechanics) and Cardiology (patients with pacemakers, bundle branch block, heart failure). With this background Prof. Frits Prinzen is a world expert on pacing therapies, both for bradycardia and for heart failure (cardiac resynchronisation therapy, CRT).

Department of Physiology
Universiteitssingel 50, 6229 ER Maastricht
PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht
T: +31(0)43 3881080
  • 2024
    • Rijks, J. H. J., Heckman, L., Westra, S., Cornelussen, R., Ghosh, S., Curila, K., Smisek, R., Grieco, D., Bressi, E., Nguyen, U. C., Lumens, J., van Stipdonk, A. M. W., Linz, D., Prinzen, F. W., Luermans, J. G. L. M., & Vernooy, K. (2024). Assessment of ventricular electrical heterogeneity in left bundle branch pacing and left ventricular septal pacing by using various electrophysiological methods. Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, Article 16435. https://doi.org/10.1111/jce.16435
    • Beela, A. S., Rijks, J. H. J., Manetti, C. A., Vernooy, K., van Stipdonk, A. M. W., Prinzen, F. W., Delhaas, T., Herbots, L., & Lumens, J. (2024). Left bundle branch block criteria in the 2021 ESC guidelines on CRT: A step back in identifying CRT candidates?European Heart Journal Cardiovascular Imaging, 25(9), e213-e215. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehjci/jeae164
    • Ghossein, M. A., de Kok, J. W. T. M., Eerenberg, F., van Rosmalen, F., Boereboom, R., Duisberg, F., Verharen, K., Sels, J. E. M., Delnoij, T., Geyik, Z., Mingels, A. M. A., Meex, S. J. R., van Kuijk, S. M. J., van Stipdonk, A. M. W., Ghossein, C., Prinzen, F. W., van der Horst, I. C. C., Vernooy, K., van Bussel, B. C. T., & Driessen, R. G. H. (2024). Monitoring of myocardial injury by serial measurements of QRS area and T area: The MaastrICCht cohort. Annals of Noninvasive Electrocardiology, 29(5), Article e70001. https://doi.org/10.1111/anec.70001
    • Brandt, Y., Lubrecht, J. M., Adriaans, B. P., Aben, J.-P., Gerretsen, S. C., Ghossein-Doha, C., Spaanderman, M. E. A., Prinzen, F. W., & Kooi, M. E. (2024). Quantification of left ventricular myocardial strain: Comparison between MRI tagging, MRI feature tracking, and ultrasound speckle tracking. NMR in Biomedicine, 37(9), Article e5164. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.5164
    • Bressi, E., Sedlacek, K., Curila, K., Cano, O., Luermans, J. G. L. M., Rijks, J. H. J., Meiburg, R., Smits, K. C., Nguyen, U. C., De Ruvo, E., Calo, L., Kron, J., Ellenbogen, K. A., Prinzen, F., Vernooy, K., & Grieco, D. (2024). Clinical impact and predictors of periprocedural myocardial injury among patients undergoing left bundle branch area pacing. Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-024-01863-2
    • Aydeniz, E., van Rosmalen, F., de Kok, J., Martens, B., Mingels, A. M. A., Canakci, M. E., Mihl, C., Vernooy, K., Prinzen, F. W., Wildberger, J. E., van der Horst, I. C. C., van Bussel, B. C. T., & Driessen, R. G. H. (2024). The association between coronary artery calcification and vectorcardiography in mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients: the Maastricht Intensive Care COVID cohort. Intensive Care Medicine Experimental, 12(1), Article 26. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40635-024-00611-0
    • Leinveber, P., Halamek, J., Curila, K., Prinzen, F., Lipoldova, J., Matejkova, M., Smisek, R., Plesinger, F., Nagy, A., Novak, M., Viscor, I., Vondra, V., & Jurak, P. (2024). Ultra-high-frequency ECG volumetric and negative derivative epicardial ventricular electrical activation pattern. Scientific Reports, 14(1), Article 5681. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55789-w
    • Nguyên, U. C., Vernooy, K., & Prinzen, F. W. (2024). Quest for the ideal assessment of electrical ventricular dyssynchrony in cardiac resynchronization therapy. Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology Plus, 7, Article 100061. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmccpl.2024.100061
    • Nguyên, U. C., Rijks, J. H. J., Plesinger, F., Rademakers, L. M., Luermans, J., Smits, K. C., van Stipdonk, A. M. W., Prinzen, F. W., Vernooy, K., Halamek, J., Curila, K., & Jurak, P. (2024). Ultra-High-Frequency ECG in Cardiac Pacing and Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy: From Technical Concept to Clinical Application. Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease, 11(3), Article 76. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcdd11030076
    • Nguyên, U. C., Prinzen, F. W., & Vernooy, K. (2024). Left ventricular lead placement in cardiac resynchronization therapy: Current data and potential explanations for the lack of benefit. Heart Rhythm, 21(2), 197-205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrthm.2023.10.003