So far in 2016, Heart Institute researchers have won more than $7 million in research funding, including major awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada. Perhaps most remarkable is the Institute’s...
Search
Displaying 301 - 320 of 363
For decades, patients taking the anti-clotting drug warfarin who required the implantation of a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillator have posed a dilemma. If they are at moderate to high risk of stroke caused by a blood clot, how are doctors to balance the risk of surgical bleeding...
In April of this year, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute expanded its ranks with a new surgeon who brings broad interests in new concepts and technologies that have the potential to improve patient outcomes. Crossing the Atlantic from the Clinique Saint-Luc Bouge in Namur, Belgium, David...
[Editor’s note: This article is an update of previously published story.] Nearly one in every 100 babies is born with some form of congenital heart disease (CHD). In the 1950s, only about 15% of these children with severe heart defects reached their 18th birthday. Today, with advances in treatment...
Cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, researchers, nurses and other cardiovascular specialists from across the country and around the globe travelled to Ottawa last week to attend the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress (CCC), the flagship event of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) and the country’s...
Modern medical imaging allows doctors to see deep within the body in exquisite detail. Using small amounts of radioactive material called tracers, cardiologists can see in real time how well a patient’s heart is functioning. The positron emission tomography (PET) imaging group at the University of...
There is a flood of advice in the world about diets and healthy eating. From the food pyramid to fad diets, from books to blogs to celebrity chefs, some of it is good information, some of it is outrageous, and a lot of it is complicated and hard to live by. Healthy eating shouldn’t be hard, but it...
It can be difficult to talk to a child about a heart event or diagnosis, treatments, the prognosis, and the possible changes that may occur in your family as a result. If you are in this situation, here are 10 tips for discussing your heart condition with your child.
If you are a caregiver, you may help your loved one with a variety of tasks, including helping with grocery shopping and cleaning, managing prescriptions and medical appointments, assisting with mobility and transportation, running errands, performing activities of daily living (such as personal hygiene and eating), and providing emotional support. Here are 10 tips for living well as a caregiver.
Heart Institute scientist says “get vaccinated as soon as possible” In April, The Beat interviewed Dr. Peter Liu, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s chief scientific officer, about coronavirus variants and how they are changing the pandemic landscape in Canada. Dr. Liu then appeared on an...
Dr. F. Daniel Ramirez is a cardiac electrophysiologist and clinician-scientist in the Division of Cardiology at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI). He bounced around between Kingston and Ottawa while completing his early medical training, and later studied in Bordeaux, France, before...
The Beat started this special column to introduce you to the brilliant minds and compassionate hearts who work at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. This week’s feature shines a light on one of the most recent additions to the institute’s team of cardiologists. In less than one year, Dr...
When did you become interested in a career in medicine? It all started after my tonsillectomy, when I was five-years-old. It was a life-changing experience for me, to meet the doctors and to hear the anesthesiologist say, “I’m going to put you to sleep now.” I was so impressed by the whole...
Since their first appearance in the late 1980s, the cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins have become one of the most widely prescribed classes of drugs ever produced. The medication is used to treat coronary artery disease (atherosclerosis) by lowering the amount of LDL cholesterol—the “bad” cholesterol—in the bloodstream.
Intensive care lives up to its name when you visit the patients who are receiving it in the Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit (CSICU). Most patients stay for no more than a day in the University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s CSICU, some will stay for three or four days, and the sickest of the sick...
Late last year, Statistics Canada released new figures detailing the leading causes of death in the country. Based on 2007 data, the report noted that cancer and heart disease were the two leading causes of death for Canadians, and these were responsible for slightly more than one-half (51 per cent)...
Editor’s Note: In the previous issue of The Beat, senior management responsible for clinical care at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute offered a wide-ranging discussion of the state of cardiovascular medicine in “ The Changing Cardiovascular Landscape.” Many of the themes and trends raised...
Together, cardiovascular patients with physicians, nurses, educators, physiotherapists and an ever-growing health care team are part of an alliance making a significant investment in managing one of the most serious chronic conditions—cardiovascular disease.
Even the sweetest ideas can shape the future of medicine