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Five years ago, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute launched the Heart Wise Exercise (HWE) program in the national capital to both assist people with heart disease and prevent its onset. The program has since broadened its mandate to prevent or limit the effects of living with a chronic health...

Men and women tend to deal with life changing circumstances differently. Heart disease is no exception, and the issues men experience often are not specifically addressed. “Cultural expectations are that men shouldn’t show any emotions because that’s somehow perceived as weak,” said Heather Tulloch...

In an ideal world, there would be no need for the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. In an ideal world, everybody would eat a healthy diet, be physically active, not smoke—and in living this healthy life, minimize the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in their lives. But this isn’t an ideal...

When a blocked artery causes a heart attack, tissue in the region of the heart served by that blood vessel quickly starts to die. Today, most patients survive an acute heart attack, but there are downstream health implications for these serious cardiac events. Scar tissue that forms in the weeks and...

Qingdao is a metropolis on the northeastern coast of China. Like many Chinese cities, it has seen explosive growth. In the past decade, Qingdao’s population has more than tripled to nearly 9 million people. Such growth has spurred the need to expand and modernize medical facilities and programs. In...

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...

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...

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...

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...