(London, ON): The Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet), a national research network funded by the Government of Canada through the Networks of Centres of Excellence with its partners have awarded two Strategic Research Grants (SRG) and one Major Industry-partnered Research Grant (MIRG) totaling over $1.3 million with an additional $6.79 million in matching funds. The Strategic Research Grants will fund research that brings together clinicians, engineers, social scientists, industry and government, centered on patients – in an effort to reduce premature deaths and suffering caused by heart rhythm disturbances – or arrhythmias. The Major Industry-partnered Research Grant Program is to support new transdisciplinary research projects which are primarily industry-focused. “The projects that are receiving funding will help CANet to meet our strategic goals and work towards achieving our vision of early detection, effective prevention, efficient and timely treatment of arrhythmia and related conditions, for all Canadians,” said Dr. Anthony Tang, CEO and Scientific Director of CANet. “We are grateful to our partners for providing the matching funds which will help us achieve success.” CANet invited applications for multidisciplinary, multi-sectoral and multi-centered research programs designed to impact the care and/or lives of people living with arrhythmias. After an intensive review...

New IBM Cloud-based analytics platform will accelerate research for leading heart disorders   TORONTO, ON – 20 Oct 2016: IBM (NYSE: IBM) and the Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet), a Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) funded national network dedicated to arrhythmia research and development, are joining forces to launch Heart-SIGN (System for Information Gathering and Networking), a cloud-based analytics platform designed to manage, monitor, store, correlate and analyze data generated from all CANet research projects. CANet will use IBM BigInsights on Cloud and Watson Analytics to build an informatics platform to help spark new ideas and share research related to heart rhythm disturbances. Findings will be derived from and used within its network of more than 100 healthcare professionals, patients, academia, government, and industry experts. By incorporating IBM’s advanced predictive analytics and cognitive capabilities, Heart-SIGN will act as a data resource for arrhythmia research and clinical practice, and provide a platform for research-based and clinical initiatives to help researchers identify specific needs, track patients through the system, and measure outcomes. In addition, the platform will offer researchers evidence-based recommended starting points for analysis, enable interaction in natural language, and visualize results on a single, dynamic interface to gain further...

The Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) is pleased to welcome two new members to the Board of Directors. Michael Gilbert, president and CEO of Synergiq Solutions and Dr. Katherine Allan, post-doctoral fellow, School of Nursing at McMaster University. “We are thrilled to have Michael Gilbert join our board as a patient representative. His wealth of experience will be invaluable at the board level,” said Dr. Pierre Boyle, Chair of the Board of Directors for CANet. “And we are also very pleased to welcome Dr. Katherine Allan to the board. Dr. Allan is representing CHAT, CANet’s trainee association and will bring that very important perspective to the board table.” CANet is also pleased to welcome 30 new investigators to our Network. Being a Network Investigator with CANet entitles members to various benefits, including: integrated, multi-disciplinary research collaborations; access to funding for research projects; opportunities to share commercialization and IP revenues; and funding to support HQP, among others.   Dr. Katherine Allan Currently a post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Allan specializes in arrhythmia research with a focus on atrial fibrillation, decision aid methodology, meta-analyses, health-related quality of life, machine learning and dynamic algorithms. With an extensive background with both in-hospital and out-of-hospital cardiac...

The Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) is pleased to announce that two of our Network Investigators were the successful grantees for the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Emerging Research Leaders Initiative Competition (ERLI) competition. Grantees were announced today.  The Emerging Research Leaders Initiative (ERLI) is an establishment grant program for researchers at the transition stage from post-doctoral fellow to early professional career stage in the areas of cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular research. This initiative aims to support successful early career launch of new investigators. Funding for the awards has been made possible through a partnership with the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Through this initiative, the funds will create a set of conditions conducive to the successful career launch of emerging research leaders in the cardiovascular, and/or cerebrovascular health research domains. CANet is pleased to award $50,000 per year for 3 years ($150,000 each) to the following grantees: Lin, Steve (Rescu, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital) Optimizing Cerebral Oxygenation And Metabolism In Cardiac Arrest Mentor: Dorian, Paul Network Affiliation: Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada Roberts, Jason (Department of Medicine, Western University) GENEtic Predictors of Successful Atrial Fibrillation Treatment (GENE-AF) Mentor: Tang, Anthony S.L. Network Affiliation: Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of...

The Canadian Syncope Risk Score will help identify patients’ risk for more serious conditions Ottawa – CANet Investigator Dr. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy and a team of researchers from the Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa have developed a nine-question screening tool to help emergency physicians determine if a patient with syncope (fainting) has symptoms of a potentially dangerous underlying condition. The study involved 4,030 syncope patients from six Canadian emergency rooms, making it the largest study of its kind. The results were published yesterday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). CANet is funding phase two of the research, which is validating and implementing the tool in emergency departments across Canada. Once validation is complete, Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy hopes to make the tool available online and as an app. Every year about 140,000 patients with fainting will visit Canadian emergency departments. The ED visits cost an average of $38.5 million per year. About 10 per cent of these patients will get admitted for an average of 8 days at a cost of $127 million a year in Canada. The Canadian Syncope Risk Score will help emergency physicians provide better health care at a lower cost by discharging low-risk patients quickly and...

A Halifax-led study could lead to better life-saving treatment for people suffering from a deadly heart condition. The clinical trial involved 259 patients at 22 medical centres around the world who suffer from a condition known as ventricular tachycardia, which can result in a dangerous, abnormal heart rhythm and affects about 50,000 Canadians. Heart attacks in athletes: researchers look for answers The study considered two treatment options. It found that one option, which used a wire inserted into blood vessels to stop short circuits, was 28 per cent more likely to prevent the problem from reoccuring than the second option of raising drug doses. Ventricular tachycardia is usually caused by a scar in the heart, according to Dalhousie Medical School’s Dr. John Sapp, who headed the study that was published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. “This is a very difficult disease to treat,” he said. “It’s when the lower chambers of the heart — which do the pumping — take over and start beating on their own instead of following the lead of the upper chambers, who are supposed to be in control.” Rhythm out of control He said the irregularity can be life threatening if...

Catheter ablation had substantially better outcomes over aggressive drug therapy A Canadian-led clinical trial has demonstrated that catheter ablation – a procedure used to treat dangerous heart rhythms by inserting wires into the heart to cauterize short circuits – is a better treatment option for recurrent ventricular tachycardia (VT) than increased drug therapy. VT is a rapid deadly heartbeat that often causes sudden death. “VT caused by heart attack scar can be very difficult to deal with, and can have quite a severe impact on both survival and quality of life,” said Dr. John Sapp, principal investigator, CANet investigator, electrophysiologist at QEII Health Sciences Centre and professor of medicine at Dalhousie University. “Until now, we really didn’t know what the best treatment was when our first-line drug therapy wasn’t enough.  Heart rhythm researchers across Canada and patients who suffer from VT worked together to discover that catheter ablation is a better option for most than increasing the drug dosages.” The multicenter, multi-national study, Ventricular Tachycardia Ablation versus Enhanced Drug Therapy in Structural Heart Disease (VANISH), was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and announced simultaneously at the late-breaking clinical trials session of the Annual Scientific Conference of...

As National Volunteer Week 2016 wraps up, we want to share ideas for volunteering in ways that can support Canadian heart rhythm health. The Heart and Stroke Foundation depends on volunteers to help support its mission. There are many different ways that you can help, from riding the Big Bike to doing office administrative work. Click here for information and to find out what opportunities are available in your province! It is also starting an exciting new project called Heart and Stroke Healing Circles, where women support each other as survivors of heart disease. Click on the link if you are interested in joining! You can also look to your local health care centres to see if there are any volunteer opportunities there – like the volunteers of the Heart Institute Auxiliary who support the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, or the volunteer patients at the University of British Columbia Department of Medicine. And if you really want to roll up your sleeves and get involved, you can look into volunteering for a clinical trial – like this one, running in several locations across Canada!

Here’s the latest Roundup of arrhythmia-related news, events and stories that caught our eye! Not just a guilt-o-meter – read about a man whose fitness tracker may have saved his life! Not just a poetic idea – Danish researchers are suggesting that it is possible to die of a broken heart. No longer just a bystander – The Heart and Stroke Foundation has created the Cardiac Arrest Action App –  Call. Push. Restart. – to help prepare people to take action if they see someone experiencing cardiac arrest. Not just a heart issue – the American Heart Association reports that irregular heartbeat may affect physical performance in older adults. And finally, men are from Mars … but women have the same cardiac symptoms as men. They just describe them differently.

Here’s the latest Roundup of arrhythmia-related news, events and stories that caught our eye. Are you caring for someone with a long list of prescriptions to take? A Toronto pharmacist created this checklist of questions to help patients keep track of meds. Everything is connected! Keep your heart healthy for your brain’s sake! Heart Health is Linked to Brain Health: Study Hockey players are really stepping up to the plate! (Sorry, can’t think of a good hockey metaphor…) First Jakub Voracek’s #ACzechforHearts, and now Richard Peverley is raising money for portable defibrillators in his hometown of Guelph, ON. We may have mentioned this a few dozen times, but here’s another example of why everyone should be trained in CPR: Quick thinking saves man’s life And in case you missed it, our most recent blog post talked about Women’s Heart Health.