News • Cardiovascular Network of Canada — CANet

Category

News
CANet — Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada

Roundup – How our hearts work, and how arrhythmias affect them

Here’s our latest roundup of arrhythmia-related news, events and stories that caught our eye. If you would like a clear, concise description of the heart’s anatomy and its functions, watch this brief but effective video from Meducation. And now, to better understand how an arrhythmia effects the heart’s normal functions, here’s a great explanation from Dr. Alvin Shrier of McGill University (a CANet partner institution). I thought it was a one-off with the story last time about studying atrial fibrillation in dogs, but apparently not! Free pacemakers offer hope to ailing dogs in Turkey Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ontario (also a CANet partner) has opened three new world-class, state-of-the-art cardiac care suites. And, in case you missed it, here are some tips for enjoying a Heart Healthy Holiday!
CANet — Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada

Heart Healthy Holidays

With Hanukkah starting next week it’s time to keep our hearts in mind as we celebrate this holiday season.
CANet — Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada

CANet Announces New Managing Director and COO

The Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) is pleased to announce that Dr. Bryce Pickard has accepted the position of Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer with CANet on a permanent basis. Dr. Pickard has been acting in the role since August. Dr. Pickard joins us from Western University where he was most recently the Executive Director of Research. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing Research Development & Services and Research Ethics for the University. Previously, Dr. Pickard was a Business Development Manager at WORLDiscoveries, where he successfully facilitated the transfer of Western technology to commercial partners within the medical device/healthcare sector. With a solid background in research administration, management and commercialization of technologies, we are thrilled to have Bryce join the CANet team. His expertise and leadership will be essential to the future success of our Network. Dr. Pickard officially starts his new role on January 4th. Please join us in welcoming Dr. Pickard to the team. Sincerely, Dr. Anthony Tang                                                            Dr. Pierre Boyle Scientific Director and CEO...
CANet — Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada

Friday Roundup – Pets, Politicians and Plans for the Future

Here’s our latest roundup of arrhythmia-related news, events and stories that caught our eye. This Canadian company is contributing to research studying atrial fibrillation in dogs. In the U.S., the FDA has approved a product created by Medtronic (a CANet partner) that can read your pacemaker data and send it to your smartphone to share with your doctor. Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is the leading killer in the U.K.; a local MP helped raise awareness by signing the Arrhythmia Alliance’s ‘Now is the Time’ manifesto. For a great visual explanation of what happens when you have an abnormal heart rhythm, watch this brief animation from the British Heart Foundation. This inspiring piece from Maclean’s outlines Ten Steps to Make Canada a Leader in Science. It reflects a lot of the ideas that drive CANet, and that we hope will lead to innovations in arrhythmia care. And, in case you missed it, here’s a piece about some more CANet Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) trainees doing exciting work in arrhythmia research.
CANet — Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada

More CANet Trainees to Watch

William McIntyre isn’t the only CANet Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) trainee to have his work recognized recently! Olivia Cook, from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI), took part in the HQP training session at CANet’s Annual Scientific Conference in September. Olivia was also the recipient of the OHRI’s Dr. Goodman Cohen Summer Student Award (Senior) for her poster “Reasons for Referrals and Hospital Admissions among Emergency Department Syncope Patients”. More than 50 students participated in the competition, which was awarded based on evaluations from coordinators and their own peers. Across the pond in Ireland, Alex Viau, who is studying at the University of Limerick, presented a poster at the University Hospitals Limerick (UHL) Annual Research Symposium. The poster – ‘Risk Factors for New and Clinically Important CT Head Abnormalities among Emergency Department Syncope Patients’ – describes research he is doing with more CANet HQP trainees: Muhammad Mukarram, Kirtana Arcot and Soo-Min Kim. All of these HQP trainees are working under the supervision of Dr. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy, whose program at OHRI focuses on how to manage syncope (fainting). Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy is a CANet Network Investigator, and a founding member of the Canadian Syncope Alliance. CANet is excited to follow these trainees...
CANet — Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada

Friday Roundup – November 13, 2015

Do you have an arrhythmia, or do you care for someone who does? We’re going to roundup any arrhythmia-related news, events and stories that catch our eye, to help you stay on top of the latest information. Read about the Paceline Charity ride, a fundraiser for cardiac arrhythmia research happening in Canberra, Australia. Healthy lifestyle helped in her recovery, but it didn’t prevent Susan from needing surgery to prevent an arrhythmia or sudden cardiac arrest. This researcher is studying the difference between men and women who receive implantable cardiac devices like pacemaker and defibrillators. This piece on heart-related deaths in high school athletes reminded us of the work CANet investigators Dr. Andrew Krahn, Dr. Robert Hamilton and Dr. Derek Exner are doing regarding undiagnosed heart conditions and sudden cardiac arrest. And finally, if you missed it earlier this week, here’s a profile of Dr. William McIntyre, a researcher who is investigating atrial fibrillation (a kind of arrhythmia) that occurs with stress.
CANet — Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada

Meet Dr. McIntyre

William McIntyre is a cardiologist who plans to focus on arrhythmia research and treatment – making him one of CANet’s Highly Qualified Personnel. We spoke to him about his work and the research award he received at the 2015 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Toronto. Tell us a little bit about where you’re currently training. I’m in my final year of cardiology training at the University of Manitoba. On July 1, 2016, I will begin a combined clinical and research fellowship in cardiac electrophysiology at McMaster University and the Population Health Research Institute. What is your educational/professional background? I was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick and attended Fredericton High School. After receiving my Bachelor of Science degree from Mount Allison University in 2006, I moved to Queen’s University where I completed Medical School and Internal Medicine Residency. I’ve been in the adult cardiology program at the University of Manitoba since July 2013. What is your current role? Are you still a “trainee”? I’m currently Chief Adult Cardiology Resident at the University of Manitoba. I’m still a “trainee”. I have 8 months left in my cardiology fellowship, then three years of clinical and research training in arrhythmia. I am hopeful that this...
CANet — Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada

Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month

Each year, up to 40,000 cardiac arrests occur in Canada. Without access to immediate treatment, most cardiac arrests will result in death. As Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) Awareness Month comes to an end, we would like to highlight the work being done by some CANet members who are focused on reducing the number of sudden cardiac deaths in Canada. Dr. Robert Hamilton (The Hospital for Sick Children) and Dr. Andrew Krahn (University of British Columbia) are two researchers who received funding during CANet’s first Strategic Research Grant Competition. As members of the Canadian Genetic Heart Rhythm (CGHR) Network, they focus on identifying and treating inherited heart rhythm disorders. CANet has provided Drs. Hamilton and Krahn with partial funding for their project – Innovative Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death Using Novel Clinical and Population Approaches – which will help them develop tools to identify at-risk patients by focusing on genetic contributors to find previously undetected inherited diseases. By engaging patients through all phases of their program, they will also learn about patients’ values and preferences, and design detection and prevention strategies. Dr. Krahn is excited to work with CANet because he feels that working as a network...
CANet — Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada

Canadian Arrhythmia Network to Host First Scientific Conference

(London, ON): The Canadian Arrhythmia Network (CANet) is thrilled to be hosting its inaugural 2015 Scientific Conference on September 16-17, 2015 at the Concorde Hotel in the beautiful and historic, Québec City. CANet will be investing $26 million in research and development programs over the next five years and is bringing together the best and brightest heart rhythm disturbance clinicians and researchers in health, engineering and social sciences from across Canada. “In Canada, sudden cardiac death is still the number one cause of death — even more so than cancers,” said Dr. Anthony Tang, CEO and Scientific Director at CANet. “This conference will bring our network of over 100 investigators and our partners together for the first time to share ideas, discuss new technological innovations and patient engagement strategies to develop and evaluate new heart rhythm therapies.” Conference participants will have the opportunity to network with other researchers in a variety of disciplines, interact with CANet government and industry partners and learn more about the robust research funding programs. This network is a flourishing heart rhythm research community who are making an impact on arrhythmia health in Canada. The network focuses exclusively on heart rhythm health and is geared towards...
CANet — Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada

Local researchers receive funding for arrhythmia studies

Drs. Jason Andrade and Andrew Krahn from The Institute for Heart + Lung Health at St. Paul’s, were among six researchers who have received two and three-year strategic research grants totaling over $2.4 million from the Canadian Arrhythmia Network Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet). Dr. Jason Andrade received $450,062 (with $1,667,000 matching funds) for his study “Early Invasive vs. Delayed Intervention for Atrial Fibrillation,” which aims to determine whether early intervention with cryothermal ablation is associated with significant (i.e. >20%) reduction in atrial fibrillation arrhythmia burden, symptoms, and healthcare utilization. This project is an international, multi-center Canadian-led randomized controlled trial comparing early (“first-line”) catheter-based pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) using cryothermal energy to first-line anti-arrhythmic drug therapy on the clinical outcomes of arrhythmia recurrence, arrhythmia related symptoms and quality of life, and hospitalisations. IMPACT: The study has the potential to fundamentally change the way in which we approach atrial fibrillation. For example, on a patient perspective, early ablation may result in a reduction in AF recurrences, with improvement in arrhythmia related symptoms, quality of life, exercise tolerance and functional capacity, mental health, and work performance. On a system/societal perspective, this may reduce health system burden by reduced emergency room visits and hospitalisations, reducing health care...
1 10 11 12 13