Clinical research within the cardiac surgery domain ranges from small prospective clinical studies to large multicenter randomized controlled trials. Furthermore, we have a proud tradition to evaluate the clinical outcome after cardiac interventions by means of high-quality registry studies.

Our main focus has been research and development of less invasive cardiac surgery such as off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting through J-hemisternotomy (JOPCAB), transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), hybrid myocardial revascularization, minimal-invasive extracorporeal circulation, and prevention of coagulopathy and thrombotic complications after cardiac surgery.

Our mission is to translate the results of our research into refined perioperative management and surgical treatment. We aim to improve quality outcomes with special focus on quality of life of our patients during recovery.

Our research is conducted by physicians, nurses, and medical students in close cooperation with the Departments of Cardiology, Biochemistry, Radiology, Physiotherapy, and numerous other partners at Aarhus University Hospital. Cooperation is further enhanced by the Central Denmark Region Cardiovascular Network. We work closely with the Departments of Biomedicine and Public Health at Aarhus University, and we have established firm collaboration with numerous Scandinavian Heart Centers.

The research profile within the general thoracic surgery domain, often including thrombosis and haemostasis, currently include in particular clinical and epidemiology research. We conduct several randomized, controlled trials as well as large epidemiology studies focusing on general thoracic surgery, especially within lung and esophageal cancer.

The research is conducted in cooperation with other hospitals and universities, national as well as international. Especially, the departments of Biochemistry, Oncology, Pulmonology, Surgery, and Cardiology at Aarhus University Hospital. Furthermore, we have a close collaboration with the Department of Biomedicine and Department of Public Health, Aarhus University. Nationally we have an extensive cooperation with all the Cardiothoracic departments and Respiratory departments at the three other university hospitals in Denmark, Aalborg Thrombosis Unit, and Department of Cardiology, Aalborg University Hospital.

Internationally we have established collaboration with the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Centre, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford Respiratory Trials Unit, University of Oxford in the United Kingdom as well as Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, USA.

As a leading and active contributor in Vascunet, the vascular surgery research team at Aarhus University plays an important role in the international collaborative efforts in establishing clinical benchmarks in vascular care. The department represents the leading role in sharing national registry data with the other Nordic countries in multiple areas of vascular disease. The unit is also a primary investigative center for both the EMBRACE registry and the European Aortic Data Collection Project, both of which aim to evaluate emerging devices used in complex aortic aneurysm treatment. In addition, Aarhus University is the primary investigative team for the coming Scandinavian trial of Uncomplicated Aortic Dissection Therapy (The SUNDAY Trial), a randomized controlled clinical trial comparing standard medical therapy against early endovascular intervention in uncomplicated aortic dissections.

The vascular surgery unit hosts several international medical students and aortic fellows every year and, likewise, sends members of the team to units abroad. An important underlying and additional ongoing area of research at the department is on workplace culture and the potential impact of physician burnout on recruitment and patient outcomes. Finally, one recent emerging area of interest at the department is a reassessment of modern surgery and potential avenues in which to lessen the impact of surgical waste on the environment.

Our clinical research activities within anaesthesiology and intensive care ranges from registry studies to prospective observational and clinical intervention studies. Registry studies mainly address clinical outcomes after cardiac surgery and analyse expositions such as perioperative use of inotropes, opioids, antibiotics, and fluid status. In clinical observational- and interventional studies we focus on the effects of fluid therapy, haemodynamic therapy and monitoring. Further, we work on developing advanced ultrasonographic methods for quantifying organ function and perfusion, with special emphasis is on heart- and kidney function during cardiothoracic- and vascular surgery, in intensive care therapy, and in emergency medicine.

Although we find the motivation and ideas for research topics in our daily clinical work, our clinical research ranges from basic exploratory studies to randomised studies aimed at direct clinical implementation. The anaesthesia research unit collaborates with multiple other specialities within Aarhus University Hospital, The Danish Prehospital Service, national hospitals and international university hospitals. All personnel, including nurses, medical students, PhD students, physicians in training, specialists in anaesthesiology, and academic staff contribute to the daily research output.

Our experimental research activities cover both clinical and animal experimental projects as well as technical laboratory studies. The predominant experimental activities are within cardiac research, but we have ongoing projects within the thoracic, vascular, and anesthesiology disciplines as well. We conceive our research projects from a clinical need and aims to solve or alleviate clinical challenges. Accordingly, our research profile is within applied research and less basic science.

We utilize research technology with tissue biomechanics, imaging technology (e.g. ultrasound, MRI, and CT scans). Over many years, we have adopted a strong research collaboration profile with medical device companies in terms of scientific assessment of commercial products. We have also invented medical devices and exploited research results into commercial products through spin-out companies.

Most of our projects are instrumented through employment and affiliation of young researchers, who undergo research education in parallel with undertaking their research projects, including PhD students and Research Year Students.

Physiology is the field of biology that aims to understand the basis of cell function at the ionic and molecular level to the integrated function of the whole body. Physiology helps us to understand body health and how it responds and adapts to challenges and additionally elucidates dysfunctions in disease, facilitating the discoveries of new promising interventions and guidelines for maintaining human health. The emphasis on integrating molecular, cellular, systems, and whole-body function is what distinguishes physiology.

Our research team promotes multidisciplinary collaboration in the cross field of basic research and clinical research to continuously learn more about the plethora of bodily functions of skeletal muscle and its impact on health and disease. Through comprehensive exploration using state of the art equipment, we investigate the multiple processes involved in skeletal muscle metabolism, accretion and locomotion and seek to uncover the physiological response of skeletal muscle in various pathological conditions.