Grant will shine a spotlight on hormone-related diseases
Tanja Tvistholm Sikjær from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital has received a grant from the Danish Council for Independent Research. The grant is to be used to gain more knowledge about patients with a deficiency of the parathyroid hormone.
She is conducting research into diseases that are related to the calcium metabolism. Tanja Tvistholm Sikjær has recently received a financial helping hand form from the Danish Council for Independent Research - Medical Sciences. The grant, which totals DKK 327,730, means that the researcher can now devote the next two years to her research.
“My primary focus is patients with deficient parathyroid secretion. We are working to find a more optimal way to help patients who lack the hormone so that we can improve their quality of life,” she explains.
In most cases the parathyroid hormone is deficient because the patient has been operated in the neck or has a congenital illness.
Tanja Tvistholm Sikjær and her colleagues hope to learn more about the possible effects that muscle and bone tissue have on the parathyroid hormone by giving it to the patients through an injection in the thigh.
“We will see what effect it has on the calcium metabolism and we will also continue to work on an improved method of administering it. This could for example involve giving the parathyroid hormone using a pump treatment so we can see whether this has a better effect than via injection. We will also examine the effect on the bone tissue using completely new and exciting scanning methods,” she says.
The research is of great importance for the patients who either have a deficiency or reduced production of the parathyroid hormone.
“Patients who are under acute treatment with calcium and active vitamin D are not free of symptoms. The disease results in a proven reduced quality of life and muscle function, as well as an increased risk of psychiatric diseases, infections and reduced kidney function. With the new treatment we hope to be able to improve patients’ daily lives and to prevent them developing complications from the disease,” says Tanja Tvistholm Sikjær.
Further information
PhD Tanja Tvistholm Sikjær
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine and
Aarhus University Hospital, Department of Endocrinology and Internal Medicine
Direct tel: +45 8949 7740
tanja.tvistholm.sikjaer@ki.au.dk