Eighteen inches. Dr. Kenneth Gin vividly recalls that number. “I recently attended a conference talk given by a General Physician (GP), who had brought a stack of papers with him on stage and measured it – 18 inches,” says Dr. Gin, Professor of Medicine and Head of Cardiology Division at Vancouver General Hospital. ” That was the stack of papers just from the last two years that he was expected to read up to stay current as a GP.” The growth of medical information currently outpaces doctors’ abilities to keep up with it. Patients, too, are living longer – encouraging news but also challenging, as they accrue more chronic medical conditions, which tend to interact with one another, but so do their treatments. “We are treating very complicated medical cases that require advanced knowledge that we can barely keep up with,” says Dr. Pavel Antiperovitch, Medical Development Lead for VIRTUES and an early career cardiologist at the London Health Science Centre. To help alleviate these specific problems, the Cardiovascular Network of Canada (CANet) has evolved its proven-successful digital health platform, VIRTUES. “With recent enhancements incorporated into VIRTUES, we have a platform designed to provide patients with the most relevant medical...

It was the year 2000 when Vince, a CANet Patient Partner supporting our VIRTUES Patient Working Group initiatives, experienced his first episode of Atrial Fibrillation, commonly termed AFib or AF. “I fainted dead away the first time I felt my heart go into AFib. I was 29, and I thought I was having a heart attack. Six years later, in 2006, I started cycling to work. I minded my diet and gradually shed 90 pounds to a healthy weight which I maintained for years. But despite being fit and in the best shape I had ever known, in 2019, my AFib episodes increased in frequency, intensity, and length. We quickly learned I had valvular heart disease, my mitral and aortic valves were failing, and my heart was enlarging. I needed surgery, and we began planning for early 2020.

We are happy to announce that 2 of the 3 CANet-supported projects have successfully received funding from the Accelerating Clinical Trials Canada Consortium (ACT). ACT consists of hundreds of investigators, stakeholders, and highly qualified research personnel from 11 trial units and 28 research networks across Canada. The central guiding principle of the ACT Consortium is that its activities will accelerate, optimize, and facilitate the conduct, implementation, and results translation from high-quality, high-impact randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to improve health in Canada and around the world. They were among 11 funded projects from 43 high-quality applications submitted in the Request For Application (RFA #1 — Supporting the Completion of High-Impact Randomized Controlled Trials). Congratulations to the research teams, investigators and staff involved with these 2 projects. Other successful applications for the RFA #1 are: ACT Call for Proposals RFA #2 — Advances in the Conduct of Randomized Controlled Trials CANet received 3 applications in total. We will support all 3 for this RFA. Applications for the next RFA #3 — Evaluate Canadian Biotechnologies with Randomized Controlled Trials due June 19, 2023. Details below: RFA #3 — Evaluate Canadian Biotechnologies with Randomized Controlled Trials A total of $2.0 million is available for this RFA. The maximum requested budget...

"I came from a culture where you don't talk about your health; I was raised to believe that this was complaining, and it was especially true for women." Around 2006, she started to experience changes in her heart's rhythm.

Ann-Marie began experiencing atrial fibrillation (AFib) symptoms at a young age. "I was 42 years old, and I happened to be at my family doctor's office for an appointment for one of my daughters who was sick. I had previously talked to the doctor about something funny with my heart rhythm, but it was episodic. Because it wasn't happening while I was there, she didn't want to send me for an ECG. While at my daughter's appointment, I said, "Remember when I talked to you about this heart rhythm thing? It's off now." She sent me downstairs in the building for an ECG right away, and sure enough, I was in AFib. That's where it began, and it was real.

“I became fascinated by the heart when I was 13 years old as a volunteer with the Red Cross. When I began to look for paid employment, nursing was big, so I went that route… and that’s where it led me for 30 years until my heart attack.” From cardiac nurse to cardiac patient, Kevin could predict that he, like his patients, would forge his path through cardiac care. “My journey started in March 2007 with a heart attack at age 47. I was fairly young, but it wasn’t unexpected because of my family’s genetics. I look like the men on my mum’s side of the family. I’ve got an uncle and a cousin, who, when we were together, people used to think we were father and sons. My mum had three brothers, two of which died of cardiac-related illnesses. One died of a massive heart attack at 52, and the second died of cardiac disease after a long battle that included several stents and a couple of bypass surgeries. The same weekend I had my heart attack; my father was dying in England from his battle with cardiac disease. He had his first heart attack at age 52 and...

Critical research funded by CANet is the foundational basis of a breakthrough treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF). CANet investigator Dr. Jason Andrade, including researchers across the country, found that freezing and removing faulty heart tissues, a procedure known as cryoablation, is more likely to prevent long-term progression AF compared to taking anti-arrhythmic drugs (AADs). This breakthrough research builds on an initial CANet-funded project which showed that cryoablation was more effective than AADs at reducing the short-term recurrence of AF. AF is the most common cardiac arrhythmia affecting Canadians. Faulty heart tissues cause rapid, irregular heartbeats and increase the risk for stroke, hospitalizations, and death. In fact, a significant portion of AF-related healthcare costs are due to hospitalization and acute care. Current AF-associated costs are estimated at two and a half percent of Canada’s annual healthcare expenditures. These costs are expected to rise to four percent within the next two decades. Both studies will help reduce the burden of AF in Canada. They fulfil a critical need for minimally invasive cardiac procedures that improve patient outcomes without increasing healthcare costs and treatment time. Dr. Andrade’s pioneering treatment – catheter ablation with a cryothermy balloon or cryoablation – freezes faulty heart tissues...

Today, we proudly announce our organization’s official name change to the Cardiovascular Network of Canada (CANet). This change reflects our accomplishments, impacts, and progression as we create, test, evaluate, and implement innovative solutions for better cardiac care and managing complex health conditions for all Canadians. Our goal is to empower Canadians to utilize innovative digital health transformative tools for co-management of their health at home in their communities while maintaining patient-provider relationships and honouring the Canadian culture of our publicly funded healthcare system. Previously recognized as the Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada, since 2014, we have focused on patient-led cardiac arrhythmia research discovery, innovation, and engagement. Our Network brought together Canada’s globally recognized experts, harnessing the talents of the best researchers, engineers, and social scientists, in a wide array of related disciplines to share ideas and advance the field of arrhythmia research and treatment. We recognize patients with arrhythmia also have related cardiovascular conditions. To make a real impact on improving the lives of our patients, we’ve broadened the scope of the Network to focus on cardiovascular health. Federally funded, we partnered with academic institutions, globally recognized industries, not-for-profit organizations, and federal and provincial government agencies to improve the lives...

Congratulations, Jobanjit Phulka, for winning our 2022 CHAT Discovery competition! Finalists had the opportunity to win up to $25,000! A huge congratulations to all finalists for their incredible work. click here to see all competition winners   Event Recap Expert Knowledge Exchange — Building for the Future Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting another successful event at our 2-day Expert Knowledge Exchange titled Building for the Future at the Intercontinental Toronto Centre hotel in Toronto, Ontario! First, we would like to thank our Patient Partners, Trainees, Allied Health Professionals, Network Investigators and Speakers for joining us from across Canada. We would also like to thank our speakers for exchanging their expert knowledge with our fantastic audience who travelled across Canada to participate in this event. click here to continue reading

Montreal, Nov. 07, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Doctors researchers from the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) presented new data today at the American Heart Association Late-Breaking Scientific Sessions. Simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the data shows that catheter ablation may be better than antiarrhythmic drugs at halting disease progression. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, affecting approximately 1 to 2% of the overall population. Treatment guidelines recommend a trial of drug therapy to maintain a normal atrial heart rhythm before catheter ablation is considered. However, these medications have only limited ability to maintain a normal heart rhythm and have substantial side effects. Catheter ablation is considered superior to antiarrhythmic drugs in maintaining normal (sinus) rhythm and improving quality of life in patients in whom drugs have already failed but it was previously unknown whether earlier ablation could prevent the progression of the disease. “By treating patients with catheter ablation right from the start, we see fewer people advancing to more persistent, life-threatening forms of atrial fibrillation,” said Dr Jason Andrade, electrophysiologist affiliated with the MHI, assistant Professor of Medicine, Université de Montréal and lead author of the EARLY-AF study. “This data provides clear evidence...