There were a lot of interesting news, research and healthcare policy discussions at this year's conference. Has the Time Come for Precision Medicine? A physician argues that tailoring care to the individual will improve outcomes and reduce costs First National Quality Report on Cardiovascular Care...
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Great strides have been made over the last 40 years in reducing the number of Canadians who smoke. Yet, smoking tobacco remains a leading cause of preventable illness, hospitalization and death. People who smoke daily average twice as many days in hospital as people who have never been daily smokers...
Whether you live in a large urban centre with frequent smog advisories or in a more rural setting, the air you breathe can pose significant risks for developing cardiovascular distress and disease. While children, the elderly and those with diabetes, lung disease or existing heart conditions are...
Dr. Caroline McGuinty is one of the newer faces around the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI). Thanks to an unrelenting coronavirus pandemic, the early-career cardiologist has yet to meet some of her colleagues in person. Despite these challenges, however, McGuinty is making strides. In the...
The Ottawa Heart Institute is uniting researchers to study environmental stressors on heart health and create tailored solutions for the most vulnerable
When the dust settles on the Ottawa Heart Institute’s new addition in early 2018, one of the innovative new facilities to come online will be a hybrid operating room (OR). It will be a space for surgeons, interventional cardiologists, imaging specialists and other medical professionals to work side...
Myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) is a test used to assess the flow of blood to the heart muscle in patients with suspected or existing coronary artery disease, the most common form of heart disease. A sophisticated Canadian technology is expected to significantly enhance access to positron...
Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) are used for a variety of indications, but in all cases, their function is the same—to deliver an electrical shock to the heart when they detect an erratic heart rhythm, known as a ventricular arrhythmia. An ICD is surgically implanted, as the name...
On July 26 this past summer, two cardiologists at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute implanted a defibrillator. Nothing out of the ordinary, you would think. It is something they do almost daily to provide lifesaving therapy for patients at risk of sudden cardiac death. But this was out of the...
The Heart Institute’s highly successful telehome monitoring program is marking the participation of its 1,000th patient. The unique program for managing heart failure care substantially reduces hospital readmissions and saves on unnecessary health care costs. Heart failure refers to a complex of...
Did you know periods of sporadic fasting can be beneficial for the metabolism? Up to sixteen weeks of intermittent fasting without otherwise having to count calories helps fight obesity and other metabolic disorders. Such fasting already shows benefits after only six weeks. This is according to a...
When you hear “ Code STEMI” announced over the loudspeakers at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, you can be sure of two things: Someone in the Ottawa region is having a serious heart attack, and he or she may well be in the best place in the world for that to happen. A STEMI (ST-elevation...
Somewhere between traditional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons sit interventional cardiologists. Like surgeons, interventionists get blood on their gowns in the process of correcting structural problems of the heart, but their approach is more subtle and less invasive. Spending their days in the...
To new cardiac anesthesiology residents, Dr. Jean-Yves Dupuis explains that it may be hard for them to predict the twists and turns their careers might take. “I tell them that the day I finished my internship back in 1979, I swore I would never go back to a university hospital—I wanted to travel the...
In March, Dr. Rob Beanlands was appointed Chief of Cardiology at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. He brings extensive career experience in cardiovascular imaging and a passion for patient-centred care and education to his new position. Dr. Beanlands takes over from Dr. Terrence Ruddy, Chief...
Whether it’s watching television, going for a long drive or spending hours in front of a computer, sitting for long periods of time increases your risk for a variety of health problems, even if you get regular exercise. While regular exercise is key to preventing heart disease, obesity and diabetes...
But living on a salt-restricted diet can be a challenge. “It’s really hard to know how much sodium is in food because you don’t see it,” explained Kathleen Turner, a registered dietitian with the Division of Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation at the Ottawa Heart Institute. “It just disappears...
Lana Gillard was used to going to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Her mother was a long-time patient there, suffering from chronic heart failure after many years of treatment and several open-heart surgeries. Gillard accompanied her to appointments and knew her mother was in excellent...
It was Anne McAllister, a 56-year-old lawyer living in Ottawa who first sparked Dr. David Birnie’s interest in a rare but potentially deadly heart condition just over a decade ago. McAllister was experiencing frequent spells of arrhythmia. Her heart rate changed from rapid to slow without any...
Broadly speaking, Canadians at risk for a heart attack know they need to improve their physical health. But not all do. In a recent study of residents of six Canadian provinces, almost one in five people with the highest cardiac risk did not think they needed to make any lifestyle changes to improve...