At this year’s premier international gathering for heart disease, the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, sharing expertise was a major aspect of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s presence. In Ask the Expert and seminar sessions, surgeons Marc Ruel, Munir Boodhwani, David
Although most cases of high blood pressure have no easily identifiable cause, the condition’s effects are clear, including increased risk of stroke, heart attack, and heart failure. The medical consensus is that using medications to lower blood pressure benefits patients, but how low has remained an
Sugar has been getting a lot of negative attention lately. American cities have tried to ban extra-large soft drinks. The Canadian Diabetes Association and some municipalities want a tax imposed on sugar-sweetened beverages. Some articles claim certain kinds of sugar are worse for you than others
Thanks to advances in gene sequencing technology that have made better, faster, and cheaper exploration of variations in the human genome possible, scientists have spent the last decade in a mad dash to catalogue the genetic variations associated with acute and chronic diseases. But identifying
Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a dangerous condition that is not well understood. It primarily affects women in their 30s to 50s who have no standard risk factors for heart disease. A tear forms in the wall of an artery allowing blood to pool between the inner and outer layers of
A form of heart failure known as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF, pronounced “hefpef”) is becoming more common but remains poorly understood. No effective treatment options exist. Women are twice as likely to suffer from HFpEF as men, but the reasons for this are also unclear