More than half a million Canadians are living with heart failure and another 50,000 join their ranks each year. The standard treatment for heart failure has not changed for quite some time. Now, a new drug—so new that it’s identified only as LCZ696—is generating interest among cardiologists and...
Search
Displaying 161 - 180 of 224
Not all treatments work in all patients, but often it’s not possible to know ahead of time who will benefit. The Ottawa Heart Institute recently became the first centre in Canada to use a new radioactive tracer clinically to better define the prognosis of a patient in heart failure. The tracer...
In less than a decade, the search for common genetic variations that alter people’s risk of disease has changed the way we think about genetic risk. In the world of cardiovascular medicine, 36 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)—the tiny genetic changes that help to differentiate one individual’s...
All exercise is good, and some is better than none, but the health benefits of Nordic walking are superior, study finds. Cardiovascular rehab programs and exercise in general is known to improve the health of people with heart disease. However, less is known about whether such improvements are...
Nurses make up the largest professional group within the healthcare workforce and their work is perceived as being physically and mentally demanding. According to a National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses in Canada conducted in 2005, an alarming proportion of Canadian nurses then reported...
Occupational therapy is proving to be one of the most important ways to avoid readmission to hospital. This was the finding of a study recently published in the journal Medical Care Research and Review which found readmission rates for heart patients were lower in hospitals that invested more in...
Cardiovascular disease is the world’s leading cause of death, but there are many behaviours you can change to decrease your risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Online cardiovascular calculators, powered by big data and artificial intelligence (AI), are making it easier than ever before to help...
Atrial fibrillation is a complex condition in that its causes vary from person to person, impacting its underlying mechanisms, what triggers episodes and which treatments are effective in each individual. In addition, afib can be difficult to diagnose because it is often episodic nature and in some...
Much of modern health care is made possible by medical devices—the countless tools, equipment and instruments used in health care delivery and patient care. Pocket glucose monitors that check blood sugar levels on the go. Specialized retractors that support new surgical techniques. Cardiac stents...
A pocket hematoma is a pooling of blood around a device such as a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) following the implant procedure. Research led by the Ottawa Heart Institute has found that patients who experience a clinically significant pocket hematoma (CSH) are...
Heart failure is an insidious disease. Its symptoms can be vague—including shortness of breath, swelling of the ankles and fatigue. Too often, patients and family doctors miss the warning signs entirely, explained Peter Liu, MD, Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of Research at the...
Hospitalization for pneumonia is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in middle-aged and older adults with no history of heart disease, according to a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Presenting his findings at the University of...
Clinical trials, medical studies performed on people, are held to high standards. The researchers running them endeavour to include a diverse group of participants, both men and women. Trial participants are randomly assigned to the treatments being compared, and trial staff measuring the outcomes...
Despite major advances in technology and treatment over the past several decades, cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in the world. In fact, cardiovascular illness has continued to increase at an epidemic rate globally despite a general reduction in age-related mortality over...
Drugs and devices approved for the Canadian market must undergo extensive clinical testing to prove their safety and effectiveness. But even the best-designed clinical trials are limited in the time they can follow patients and how closely their participants resemble the general population. Once a...
When Robert Roberts, MD, joined the University of Ottawa Heart Institute as President and CEO in 2004, he came with a mandate: establish the Institute as a world leader in cardiovascular genetics research. “Over the past 50 or so years, the data have been pretty consistent that somewhere around 50...
The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association have named the RAFT trial among the top 10 research advances in heart disease in 2010. Led by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, RAFT showed cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is effective in reducing the risk for death...
It takes years and years of training to become a doctor, nurse or any other healthcare practitioner. It takes years and years more to master the skills demanded of those occupations. The truth about a career in medicine is no matter the specialty, learning continues long after the graduation caps...
Blood Test Identifies Those at Risk for Heart Attack Knowing an individual’s specific risk of heart attack could significantly impact his or her medical care as well as willingness to adopt a healthier lifestyle. A blood test now available in the United States has been shown to do just that. The...
To coincide with coverage of the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Summit, this edition of “Rapids Beats” is dedicated to news related to women and heart disease. Why Women Are Less Likely to Receive Statin Therapy Statin drugs, which lower cholesterol, are equally effective in men and women at...