Menu

Latest news & events

Catheter treatment is not only effective, but also cost-effective for ischemic stroke

Catheter treatment is not only effective, but also cost-effective for ischemic stroke

29 September 2026

With ischemic stroke, every minute counts. However, many patients do not seek hospital care until it is too late, for example, because symptoms are not immediately recognized or because people wake up with signs of neurological deficits. As a result, a group of patients is no longer eligible for catheter treatment. 

Read more
Platelets: more than a band-aid

Platelets: more than a band-aid

23 September 2026

Some processes in our body might seem obvious to us. If you cut your finger, the bleeding will stop shortly and form a scab. Behind that seemingly simple process hides a sophisticated system of platelets and clotting factors. By now, we know that platelets do much more than halt bleeding: they function as information carriers and regulators of disease processes. 

Read more
More newsMore events
Carim Maastricht
Carim Maastricht

Elham Bidar

Professor

Elham Bidar studied medicine at Maastricht University, within the problem-based learning (PBL) system, a philosophy he now strategically integrates into education, research, and clinical care. The PBL approach allowed him to begin early scientific research in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery (CTC), resulting in a PhD in 2018, on the topic 'Assessment of the clinical and electrophysiological characteristics of atrial fibrillation during and after cardiac surgery' supervised by Prof. Uli Schotten and Prof. Jos G. Maessen. 

Since 2019, he has served as a staff member in CTC at Maastricht UMC+, where he specializes in open and minimal invasive cardiovascular surgery including throacoscopic AF ablation and open aortic procedures.

As of April 2025, he is appointed Head of the Department of CTC at the Heart+Vascular Center and Chairman and Principal Investigator of the department at CARIM. 

Within the CARIM+HVC network, he fosters close collaborations between clinicians and basic scientists to address clinical challenges through transdisciplinary research, using open-heart surgery and the heart-lung machine as in vivo models. Key focus areas include electrophysiology, organ perfusion and mechanical circulatory support, and aortic pathology. 

Elham bidar

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
P. Debeyelaan 25, 6229 HX Maastricht
P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht

  • 2017
    • Raffa, G. M., Gelsomino, S., Sluijpers, N., Meani, P., Alenizy, K., Natour, E., Bidar, E., Johnson, D. M., Makhoul, M., Heuts, S., Lozekoot, P., Kats, S., Schreurs, R., Delnoij, T., Montalti, A., Sels, J. W., Poll, M. V. D., Roekaerts, P., Maessen, J., & Lorusso, R. (2017). In-hospital outcome of post-cardiotomy extracorporeal life support in adult patients: the 2007-2017 Maastricht experience. Critical Care and Resuscitation, 19(Suppl 1), 53-61. http://cicm.org.au/CICM_Media/CICMSite/CICM-Website/Resources/Publications/CCR%20Journal/Previous%20Editions/October%20Supplement%202017/ccr_19_OctSupp_011017-S53-S61.pdf
    • Meani, P., Gelsomino, S., Natour, E., Johnson, D. M., Rocca, H.-P. B. L., Pappalardo, F., Bidar, E., Makhoul, M., Raffa, G., Heuts, S., Lozekoot, P., Kats, S., Sluijpers, N., Schreurs, R., Delnoij, T., Montalti, A., Sels, J. W., van de Poll, M., Roekaerts, P., ... Lorusso, R. (2017). Modalities and Effects of Left Ventricle Unloading on Extracorporeal Life support: a Review of the Current Literature. European journal of heart failure, 19 Suppl 2, 84-91. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejhf.850
  • 2015
    • Lau, D. H., Maesen, B., Zeemering, S., Kuklik, P., van Hunnik, A., Lankveld, T. A. R., Bidar, E., Verheule, S., Nijs, J., Maessen, J., Crijns, H., Sanders, P., & Schotten, U. (2015). Indices of bipolar complex fractionated atrial electrograms correlate poorly with each other and atrial fibrillation substrate complexity. Heart Rhythm, 12(7), 1415-1423. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrthm.2015.03.017
  • 2014
    • Kuklik, P., Bidar, E., Gharaviri, A., Maessen, J., & Schotten, U. (2014). Application of phase coherence in assessment of spatial alignment of electrodes during simultaneous endocardial-epicardial direct contact mapping of atrial fibrillation. EP Europace, 16 (Suppl 4), iv135-iv140. https://doi.org/10.1093/europace/euu247
    • Verheule, S., Eckstein, J., Linz, D., Maesen, B., Bidar, E., Gharaviri, A., & Schotten, U. (2014). Role of endo-epicardial dissociation of electrical activity and transmural conduction in the development of persistent atrial fibrillation. Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology, 115(2-3), 173-185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2014.07.007
  • 2011
    • van Breugel, N. H., Bidar, E., Essers, B. A., Nieman, F. H., Accord, R. E., Severens, J. L., Vrakking, R., & Maessen, J. G. (2011). Cost-effectiveness of ablation surgery in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing cardiac surgery. Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, 12(3), 394-398. https://doi.org/10.1510/icvts.2010.249482
Overview