Helena Carstensen
Postdoc, DVM, PhD
Research Profile:
My main research interest is equine cardiology with special emphasis on arrhythmias. I am currently looking into the cardiac effects of high intensity training and studying whether the training creates a substrate for atrial fibrillation. In humans, documentation of a higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation in highly trained endurance athletes exists. Furthermore, I am involved in other projects on heart rate variability, implantable loop recorders, intracardiac mapping, cardiac remodeling due to atrial fibrillation and atrioventricular conduction. During my PhD project, I tested the effects of several new antiarrhythmic compounds in horses. The aims were to test the drugs as monotherapy and in combination to study possible synergetic or additive effects. On top of that, we also tested the drug effects on increasing durations of atrial fibrillation. Treatment of atrial fibrillation in horses is currently problematic as the available antiarrhythmic drugs target ion channels in both atria and ventricles, which can result in adverse cardiac effects.
I finished my degree in Veterinary Medicine with special focus on equine medicine at University of Copenhagen in 2011. Subsequently, I continued working with horses at a hospital in Canada and from 2013 to 2017 I completed my PhD at University of Copenhagen. Then I was employed as a postdoc and currently I am working as a clinician in the Large Animal Hospital at University of Copenhagen.
Publications:
2019
Carstensen H, Hesselkilde EZ, Haugaard MM, Flethøj M, Carlson J, Pehrson S, Jespersen T, Platonov PG, Buhl R (2019): Effects of Dofetilide and Ranolazine on Atrial Fibrillatory Rate in a Horse Model of Acutely Induced Atrial Fibrillation, Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology 30(4): 596-606.
2018
Carstensen H, Hesselkilde EZ, Fenner M, Loft-Andersen AV, Flethøj M, Kanters JK, Sattler SM, Tfelt-Hansen J, Pehrson S, Jespersen T, Buhl R (2018):Time-dependent antiarrhythmic effects of flecainide on induced atrial fibrillation in horses, Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 32(5): 1708-1717.
Buhl R, Carstensen H, Hesselkilde EZ, Klein BZ, Hougaard KM, Ravn KB, Loft-Andersen AV, Fenner MF, Pipper C, Jespersen T (2018): Effect of induced chronic atrial fibrillation on exercise performance in Standardbred trotters, Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 32(4): 1410-1419.
Carstensen H, Kjær L, Haugaard MM, Flethøj M, Hesselkilde EZ, Kanters JK, Pehrson S, Buhl R, Jespersen T (2018): Antiarrhythmic Effects of Combining Dofetilide and Ranolazine in a Model of Acutely Induced Atrial Fibrillation in Horses, Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology 71(1): 26-35.
Carstensen H, Hesselkilde EZ, Kruse DD, Braunstein TH, Jespersen T, Buhl R: Structural Remodeling in the Equine Heart after Pacing-Induced Atrial Fibrillation [abstract]. Proceedings of the 11th Annual European College of Equine Internal Medicine Congress; 2018 November 7-10; Ghent, Belgium.
Carstensen H, Hesselkilde EZ, Jespersen T, Pehrson S, Carlson J, Platonov PG, Buhl R: Effects of Dofetilide and Ranolazine on Atrial Fibrillatory Rate in the Horse Model of Acutely Induced Atrial Fibrillation [abstract]. 14th Annual Congress of the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society; 2018 April 15-17; Paris, France.
2017
Carstensen H (2017): PhD Thesis: Pharmacological treatment of atrial fibrillation in horses.
Hesselkilde EZ, Carstensen H, Haugaard MM, Carlson J, Pehrson S, Jespersen T, Buhl R, Platonov PG (2017): Effect of flecainide on atrial fibrillatory rate in a large animal model with induced atrial fibrillation, BMC Cardiovascular Disorders 17(1): 289.
Hesselkilde EZ, Carstensen H, Hougaard K, Ravn KB, Fenner MF, Flethøj M, Trachsel D, Jespersen T, Buhl R: Progression of Atrial Fibrillation – A study of atrial remodelling using surface ECG, Tissue Doppler Imaging and Intra Atrial Recordings [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 10th Annual European College of Equine Internal Medicine Congress; 2017 November; Budapest, Hungary
Fenner MF, Hesselkilde EZ, Carstensen H, Nissen S, Jensen M, Lunddahl C, Milnes J, Sattler SM, Jespersen T, Buhl R: Anti-arrhythmic Properties of a Potent, Selective IK,ACh Blocker in an Equine Model of Persistent Atrial Fibrillation [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 10th Annual European College of Equine Internal Medicine Congress; 2017 November; Budapest, Hungary
Carstensen H, Hesselkilde EZ, Fenner MF, Klein BZ, Pehrson S, Jespersen T, Buhl R: Reduced Exercise Capacity in Horses Due to Atrial Fibrillation [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum; 2017 June 8-10; National Harbor, Maryland, USA
Carstensen H, Hesselkilde EZ, Fenner MF, Loft-Andersen AV, Kanters JK, Pehrson S, Jespersen T, Buhl R: Antiarrhythmic Effects of Flecainide on Experimentally Induced Atrial Fibrillation of Different Duration in Horses [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum; 2017 June 8-10; National Harbor, Maryland, USA
Trachsel DS, Carstensen H, Hesselkilde EZ, Fenner MF, Buhl R: Effect of Atrial Fibrillation on Exercise Performance in Horses [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum; 2017 June 8-10; National Harbor, Maryland, USA
Hesselkilde EZ, Carstensen H, Haugaard MM, Carlson J, Jespersen T, Platonov PG, Buhl R: Effect of Flecainide on Atrial Fibrillatory Rate in Horses with Induced Atrial Fibrillation [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum; 2017 June 8-10; National Harbor, Maryland, USA
Buhl R, Hesselkilde EZ, Carstensen H, Fenner MF, Jespersen T, Pehrson S, Hansen JT, Sattler SM: Implantable Cardiac Loop Recorders – a Novel Diagnostic Tool for Atrial Fibrillation Detection in Horses [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum; 2017 June 8-10; National Harbor, Maryland, USA
2016
Flethøj M, Kanters JK, Pedersen PJ, Haugaard MM, Carstensen H, Olsen LH, Buhl R (2016): Appropriate threshold levels of cardiac beat-to-beat variation in semi-automatic analysis of equine ECG recordings, BMC Veterinary Research, 12(1): 266.
Flethøj M, Schwarzwald CC, Haugaard MM, Carstensen H, Kanters JK, Olsen LH, Buhl R (2016): Left Ventricular Function After Prolonged Exercise in Equine Endurance Athletes, Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 30(4): 1260-1269.
Skarsfeldt MA, Carstensen H, Skibsbye L, Tang C, Buhl R, Bentzen BH, Jespersen T (2016): Pharmacological inhibition of IK1 by PA-6 in isolated rat hearts affects ventricular repolarization and refractoriness, Physiological Reports, 4(8).
Flethøj M, Kanters JK, Haugaard MM, Pedersen PJ, Carstensen H, Balling JD, Olsen LH, Buhl R (2016): Changes in heart rate, arrhythmia frequency, and cardiac biomarker values in horses during recovery after a long-distance endurance ride, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 248(9): 1034-1042.
Buhl R, Carstensen H, Hesselkilde EZ, Fenner MF, Jespersen T: Atrial fibrillation – Translational research perspectives [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the European College of Equine Internal Medicine Congress 2016 November 3-5; Helsinki, Finland
Carstensen H, Hesselkilde EZ, Haugaard MM, Kanters JK, Pehrson S, Jespersen T, Buhl R: Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation in Horses with Dofetilide and Ranolazine [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 British Equine Veterinary Association Congress; 2016 September 7-10; Birmingham, England
Carstensen H, Hesselkilde EZ, Haugaard MM, Kanters JK, Pehrson S, Jespersen T, Buhl R: Novel pharmacological treatment regimes in equine atrial fibrillation [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum; 2016 June 8-11; Denver, Colorado, USA
Hesselkilde EZ, Carstensen H, Vandsø B, Jespersen T, Kanters JK, Buhl R: Is ECG in Horses Only for Dysrhythmia Diagnosis? Introducing a New Method for 12-Lead ECG [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum; 2016 June 8-11; Denver, Colorado, USA
2015
Haugaard, MM, Hesselkilde, EZ, Pehrson, S, Carstensen H, Flethøj M, Præstegaard KF, Sørensen US, Diness JG, Grunnet M, Buhl R, Jespersen T (2015): Pharmacological inhibition of small-conductance calcium-activated potassium (SK) channels reveals atrial antiarrhythmic potential in horses, Heart Rhythm, 12(4): 825-835.
Haugaard MM, Pehrson S, Carstensen H, Flethøj M, Hesselkilde EZ, Præstegaard K, Diness JG, Grunnet M, Jespersen T, Buhl R (2015): Antiarrhythmic and Electrophysiological Effects of Flecainide on Acutely Induced Atrial Fibrillation in Healthy Horses, Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 29(1): 339-347.
2014
Carstensen H, Skarsfeldt M, Diness J, Buhl R, Jespersen T: Pharmacological inhibition of IK1 in the rat heart [abstract]. In: 10th Annual Congress of the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society; 2014 March 23-25; Munich, Germany
2013
Carstensen H, Larsen L, Ritz C, Nielsen MK (2013): Daily variability of strongyle fecal egg counts in horses, Journal of Equine Veterinary Sciences, 33(3): 161-164.
Helena Carstensen
