Iulia Skoda

I am a PhD student and I teach and give seminars for the students at the Medical Faculty.

Presentation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia and poses a significant burden to patients and healthcare systems globally. AF generates unpleasant symptoms, and a high arrhythmia burden is associated with higher risks of stroke, mortality, and hospitalization for heart failure worldwide. The current literature argues that epicardial adipose tissue, fibrosis, inflammation, altered coagulation and blood flow, all contribute to the atrial changes in AF (atrial myophaty), but the succession of the steps, the interaction of the different components and the magnitude of each one's contribution, constitute the knowledge gap in this research area.

The overall goal of my research is to create a deeper understanding of the presence of intramural fibrosis and epicardial adipose tissue in and around the atrial wall, and how these parameters correlate to inflammation during the progression of AF. Further on, the aim is to analyze the blood flow pattern in the AF patients and its relation to hypercoagulability, inflammation, fat, and fibrosis. My tools are blood samples (for inflammation and coagulation), cardiac CT (for atrial volume, epicardial adipose tissue and flow), and cardiac MRI (for atrial volume, epicardial adipose tissue, fibrosis and flow).

Publications

2024

Sophia Bäck, Jonas Lantz, Iulia Skoda, Lilian Henriksson, Anders Persson, Lars Karlsson, Carljohan Carlhäll, Tino Ebbers (2024) Comprehensive left atrial flow component analysis reveals abnormal flow patterns in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation American Journal of Physiology. Heart and Circulatory Physiology, Vol. 326, p. H511-H521 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2023

Sophia Bäck, Iulia Skoda, Jonas Lantz, Lilian Henriksson, Lars Karlsson, Anders Persson, Carljohan Carlhäll, Tino Ebbers (2023) Correction: Elevated atrial blood stasis in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation during sinus rhythm: a patient-specific computational fluid dynamics study (vol 10, 1219021, 2023) Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, Vol. 10, Article 1301605 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Sophia Bäck, Iulia Skoda, Jonas Lantz, Lilian Henriksson, Lars Karlsson, Anders Persson, Carljohan Carlhäll, Tino Ebbers (2023) Elevated atrial blood stasis in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation during sinus rhythm: a patient-specific computational fluid dynamics study Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, Vol. 10, Article 1219021 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2022

Iulia Skoda, Markus Henningsson, Sofia Stenberg, Jonathan Sundin, Carljohan Carlhäll (2022) Simultaneous Assessment of Left Atrial Fibrosis and Epicardial Adipose Tissue Using 3D Late Gadolinium Enhanced Dixon MRI Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Vol. 56, p. 1393-1403 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

Organisation