The Cardiovascular Research Methods Centre collaborates with Heart Institute investigators during all stages of the research process, from protocol design to drafting of a final manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal: The Centre aims to: To collaborate with clinician and basic...
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The main goal of the Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Laboratory, under the direction of Erik Suuronen, PhD, is to develop tissue engineering and cell-based therapeutic approaches for the treatment of cardiac injury and disease. Despite major advances in therapy, there are still a significant...
Electrical cardioversions are performed with anesthetic. An intravenous catheter will be inserted in your arm to deliver fluids and medication. Pads are placed on your chest and back and hooked up to an external defibrillator. When the patient is asleep the physician delivers a shock. Usually, one...
Working and studying at the Heart Institute can be immensely rewarding. This section provides information on employment and training opportunities relating to care, education and research at the Heart Institute.
When a loved one has a cardiac event such as a heart attack or open heart surgery, it can mean big changes in your life. This list can help you find many of the resources available to you.
A heart attack or cardiac surgery is a major event. It has a ripple effect that impacts not just the patient, but family and friends as well. Lives can change, often for the long term, casting loved ones in the role of caregiver. These changes can be stressful, unexpected and, over time, draining. A...
The repetitive nature of caring for a loved one recovering at home can be emotionally draining for a caregiver. Tasks such as helping that loved one get out of bed each morning, dress, bathe and eat can also be physically challenging. When a recovering patient can carry out these activities of daily...
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate Communication is the foundation of any good relationship. This becomes even more important when dealing with the upheavals and uncertainties of cardiovascular disease. “Life-threatening events threaten bonds,” said psychologist Heather Tulloch, PhD. “It’s...
February 22 is Heart Valve Disease Awareness Day, an international campaign dedicated to raising awareness about heart valve disease—its risk factors, symptoms, detection, and treatment
Several leading voices in cardiovascular medicine spoke out strongly at this year’s Congress about the looming crisis in health care and the need for the system to finally take prevention seriously. This message rang out from both sides of the border and took centre stage (that is “center” for our...
The Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation is a highly successful and widely adopted program for getting hospitalized patients to quit smoking. The intervention is most effective when support continues beyond discharge. Staff follow-up is a resource-intensive approach to maintaining patient contact...
A review of 25 years of heart transplant cases showed that the surgical procedure is a highly effective form of treatment. Cardiac surgeon Dr. Marc Ruel presented findings from 461 Heart Institute transplant patients showing that survival rates are high. This is particularly true over the past...
In a symposium called “Evolution in Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Therapies in Canada 2000-10,” leading figures discussed the changes seen over the previous decade in prevention, imaging, interventional cardiology and surgery. Two of those leading figures were Heart Institute physicians. Dr. Andrew...
Coronary artery disease is an inflammatory condition characterized by plaque deposits, which can rupture, causing heart attack and stroke. The Holy Grail for researchers remains finding a way to non-invasively determine which plaques are at risk for rupture. Several graduate students discussed...
With the recent understanding that progenitor cells in the adult body can help heal a damaged heart, both by repairing heart muscle tissue and building new blood vessels to supply oxygen, researchers have been looking for ways to help these cells work harder and live longer. Dr. Darryl Davis, an...
In a featured research presentation, surgical resident Dr. Joel Price discussed the use of a low-tech simulator to give trainee surgeons after-hours practice time to hone their technique. Surgical skills are usually learned directly on patients in the OR, but a variety of evolving issues are making...
Dr. Michel Le May, Director of the Heart Institute Regional STEMI Program, discussed the impact of bleeding on mortality in patients referred to primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI; angioplasty and stenting) through the STEMI heart attack program. Patients who had a major or minor...
Each year, the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress draws thousands of professionals from across the country to share their expertise and learn about the latest developments in cardiovascular medicine. The Heart Institute continued to increase its impact with more than 125 program items (pdf), not to...
Within 30 days of non-cardiac surgery, one in 10 patients will have a major vascular complication. In the CCC State-of-the-Art lecture, Dr. PJ Devereux of McMaster University brought to the fore work being done to reduce myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery (MINS). Surgery is stressful, and...
The Heart Institute’s landmark RAFT trial, released in 2010, showed that cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in combination with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) device reduces the risk death by 24 per cent in patients with mild to moderate heart failure. Two new studies mined...