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February 2012
Getting a Handle on Hypertension
The impact of healthy diet, salt, and obesity on blood pressure.
Research
February 2012
National Recognition for Researcher’s Contributions to Patient Care
George Wells, PhD, has been honoured for his landmark work in advancing care for heart failure patients.
February 2012
New Tests Advance the Promise of Personalized Medicine
Heart Institute researchers develop the first-ever point-of-care genetic test and determine interferon alpha is a genetic marker for CAD.
February 2012
High Ranking for Research Impact
The Heart Institutes ranks high in the recently released SCImago Institutions Rankings [SIR] World Report on the research impact of institutions and companies worldwide.
December 2011
AHA 2011: What We Know about Women and Heart Disease
The State of the Science Lecture on Women and Heart Disease by Anne Rosenfeld of the Oregon Health Sciences University made it clear that there is much to learn about the ways the disease is unique to women. What we do know indicates that risk, symptoms, progression and treatment of CVD are all substantially different across the genders.
December 2011
AHA 2011: More Genes and Putting Screening to Use
The CARDIoGRAM consortium, of which the Heart Institute is a founding member, reported finding 13 new genetic regions associated with increased risk for coronary artery disease and heart attack. CARDIoGRAM brings together research teams from around the world to pool data sets and increase their power to identify relevant genes.
December 2011
AHA 2011: Canada’s Unique Role in Global Cardiovascular Health
Following Burgon’s talk at the International Forum, Philip Devereaux of McMaster University spoke about Canada’s unique place in the world of cardiovascular medicine. Not only is cardiovascular disease (CVD) the leading cause of death globally but by 2020, the incidence in developing countries is expected to increase 120 per cent for women and 137 per cent for men. In developed countries, the increase is expected to be 30 and 60 per cent, respectively.
December 2011
CCC 2011: Imaging the Inner Workings of the Heart
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 research into whether advanced imaging techniques can provide this information.
December 2011
CCC 2011: STEMI Heart Attack and Safety
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.
December 2011
CCC 2011: Simulator Practice Improves Surgical Skills
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 this approach insufficient. These include the increasing complexity of procedures, restrictions on the number of hours that trainees can be required to work and an ever-more litigious society.
December 2011
CCC 2011: Effectiveness of Heart Transplantation
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 decade, where eight-year post-procedure survival is nearing 90 per cent. Over the full period of the review, five-year survival was 75 per cent.
December 2011
CCC 2011: Automated Telephone Follow-up for Smoking Cessation
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. Kerri-Anne Mullen, Network Manager for the program, presented a study examining the impact of an automated telephone follow-up system using interactive voice response (IVR) technology.