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The heart is more than just a muscle. A complex electrical system drives the heart’s chambers to contract in a coordinated rhythm, pushing blood out to every cell in the body. When the system is damaged by heart disease, short circuits can result, causing dangerous disturbances in heart rhythm

A dedicated staff committed to education. A referral base of 2 million people that offers an amazing range of clinical conditions that enable learning. A vigorous, wide-ranging research program. A supportive administration that believes in continual improvement. The full breadth of clinical care

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

Being a patient at the Heart Institute can be unsettling—but it’s also safe. There is trained staff that will help with whatever patients need. Medication is brought when it’s time to take it and food meets the requirements for a heart-healthy diet. When it’s time to leave, though, it’s another

The first studies to scan the entire human genome for genetic variations associated with heart disease didn’t find what researchers expected. More than two-thirds of the newly identified risk variants had no relationship to known risk factors for heart diseases such as cholesterol, high blood

On January 1, 2013, Dr. Marc Ruel took over as Chief of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. He succeeded Dr. Thierry Mesana, who had led the division since 2001. Since joining the Heart Institute in 2002, Dr. Ruel has been a pioneer and advocate of minimally invasive cardiac

Almost no one complains about the food. It’s not that the food at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute is better than at other hospitals. But, said Sharon Ann Kearns, the Manager of Quality and Performance Measurement, when people are satisfied with their care and feel they have been well

Minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS) is staking a middle ground between open-heart surgery and catheter-based procedures. Not surprisingly, there are pluses and minuses with each specific procedure, and some are more established than others. All offer the advantages of keeping the heart beating

As commentaries on radiation go, Peter Parker likely summed it up best: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Although no one at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute has had to deal with the complications of acquiring superpowers from a radioactive spider, the staff is profoundly aware

If they weren’t such a modest lot—and if they hadn’t been quite so tired—you might have heard the sounds of celebration at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute last month. It was an occasion truly worth celebrating—the Heart Institute’s 500th heart transplant since the program began in 1984. At