The concept of patient-centred care still seems to be a pipe dream for many patients. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it evident that the focus of healthcare often, though unintentional, drifts toward the disease rather than the patient. Despite the many medical innovations that have broadened the value-based care options for almost every disease, patients still have trouble accessing relevant care. Whether it is due to scarcity of medical information, distance from advanced healthcare centers, or high care costs, patients often do not get the right care to effectively treat their diseases. Bridging the gap between patients and advanced care options requires patient-aligned healthcare networks that can seamlessly connect patients with timely and cost-effective medical care. Fulfilling this role for cardiac patients across Canada is the patient-driven, non-profit association, CANet. The company brings together healthcare professionals, patients, academia, government, and not-for-profit organizations to undertake ground-breaking cardiac research and develop powerful digital health tools to improve the care journey of patients. By putting the right tools in the hands of patients at the right time, CANet enables them to manage their complex health conditions. Federally funded in part by Canada’s flagship science and technology program, Networks of Centres of Excellence, CANet...

ST. PHILIPS, SASK. – Pewaseskwan Indigenous Wellness Research Group (pewaseskwan) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) has partnered with The Key First Nation and the Yorkton Tribal Council to support research on heart disease and spinal-bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), also known as Kennedy’s Disease. Dr. Alexandra King (MD), of Nipissing First Nation and co-lead of pewaseskwan, said Indigenous people have higher rates of heart disease and Kennedy’s Disease, and to address this, there is a need for culturally responsive health research, services and programming that prioritize Indigenous knowledge systems, create ethical space between Indigenous and Western systems, and ensure culturally safe and resonant Western approaches. To help accomplish this, pewaseskwan is prioritizing Indigenous voices in the research and the Yorkton Tribal Council and The Key First Nation have been instrumental in providing support. “We are excited to partner with The Key First Nation and the Yorkton Tribal Council as we collaborate to ensure research regarding First Nations communities is community-led and culturally safe. Heart disease and Kennedy’s Disease have much higher-than-average rates in our communities, and we want to ensure our people play a strong role in the research to reduce the burden of these diseases,” said Dr. King. Pewaseskwan,...

Canada must do better in its efforts to reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) after heart attacks. CANet investigators have found that one in three heart attack survivors in Canada fail to adhere to the recommended medical guideline of getting a medical check-up three to six months after their attack. Heart attacks often weaken the cardiac muscle and reduce its ability to pump blood. Weak cardiac muscles increase the risk of SCD for heart attack survivors. Rechecking the heart’s pumping function, usually with an ultrasound or ‘echo’, helps monitor the condition of cardiac muscles. In cases where they have weakened further, doctors will often recommend additional drug therapy or implanted defibrillators. The CANet study found that one in three patients with reduced cardiac muscle function after a heart attack did not have their medical checkups within six months. In patients who did, reduced cardiac muscle function persisted in over a third of them. Within this group, only a quarter of those who met the criteria of getting an implanted defibrillator were referred to a specialist to get one installed. “We wanted to find out how many patients get a medical check-up at the recommended time and whether they...

We’re excited to share the news that the Government of Canada has announced CANet’s successful application with our Letter of Intent advancing us to the next stage of the inaugural Strategic Science Fund (SSF) competition. We look forward to working with our entire network, partners, and supporters in completing the full application, due September 19, 2002.   Strategic Science Fund: 2021 competition – letter of intent assessment results From: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada Letter of intent assessment results: the following 35 applicants to the Strategic Science Fund are advancing to the full application stage. Name of organization Actua adMare BioInnovations AGE-WELL NCE ArcticNet inc. BioCanRx Brain Canada Foundation Canadian Glycomics Network Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Canadian Mountain Network Canadian Water Network Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) CLEAR SEAS Centre For Responsible Marine Shipping Composites Knowledge Network Council of Canadian Academies Environmental Careers Organization of Canada Genome Canada GreenCentre Canada Health Data Research Network Canada Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada Indigenous Works Organization Inc. Institute for Quantum Computing Kids Brain Health Network Let’s Talk Science Mitacs Ontario Public Health Association Ouranos Ovarian Cancer Canada Perimeter Institute Praxis Spinal...

In his experience, CANet Patient Partner Hugh Winsor believes that patients need to combine their own lived experiences with a wider understanding of the cardiology and science involved in the proposed investigation. Only then can patients fairly assess the potential patient benefit from any proposed study.

The Montreal Heart Institute leads a Pan-Canadian alliance aimed to improve health outcomes for Canadians living with Heart Failure MAY 3, 2022 (MONTREAL, QC) – As the National Heart Failure Awareness Week begins, the Montreal Heart Institute announces the creation of the Canadian Heart Function Alliance (CHF Alliance) Network. Uniting an extensive network of researchers, cardiologists, patients, caregivers, Indigenous elders, policymakers and supporting organizations across the country, this pan-Canadian alliance aims to tackle the challenges of heart failure – a common condition that is often fatal, and on the rise in Canada. The CHF Alliance spans eight provinces and one territory and involves 11 patient/caregiver partners; 13 Indigenous partners; and 132 investigators (42% women; two dozen early-career investigators) all collaborating on 23 research projects. The CHF Alliance was made possible thanks to $5 million in support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), in partnership with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Mitacs, and the National Institute of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. To complement this investment, the CHF Alliance has already attracted matching funds (cash and in-kind) of more than $27 million. Additional CHF Alliance partners include the HeartLife Foundation; the Canadian Cardiovascular Society; the...

Early this year, a giant of Canadian electrophysiology, Dr. George Wyse, passed away peacefully at his Canmore home in Alberta, Canada. “Dr. Wyse is a pioneer in heart rhythm research and care in Canada,” says Dr. Anthony Tang, CEO and Scientific Director, CANet, continuing, “He was always very generous with his time and energy helping all of us to succeed. Even when he was not physically well, he continued to offer advice and mentorship to all of us voluntarily. He is very much missed already in our community.” Dr. Wyse was pivotal in shaping the foundation of CANet. He also played a key part as an internal reviewer for both the original and renewal CANet applications to the Networks of Centres of Excellence – both leading to success. As a member of CANet’s Research Management Committee (RMC), Dr. Wyse helped formulate the Network’s strategic plan, including reviewing the Network’s 50+ research projects to ensure that they maintained a high level of excellence expected of Canadian arrhythmia research.  He was a mentor on multiple projects, giving essential advice and direction. Dr. Katherine Allan, Research Associate for Canadian Sudden Cardiac Arrest Network (C-SCAN) — a collaboration between CANet and the Canadian Resuscitation...

Dr. Anthony Tang envisions a not-so-distant future where sensors, voice recognition, cloud-computing and data analytics are a routine part of our health care experience. “The grand vision is that we can make a diagnosis, follow a patient’s progress and allow management to occur wherever they are,” said Tang. “This is about empowering patients in their own health care.” As the Scientific Director and CEO of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) housed at Western University, Tang is focused on innovative solutions to help patients manage complex medical conditions. Collaborating with investigators across the country, CANet is leading the expansion, testing and clinical integration of a digital health platform called VIRTUES (Virtual Integrated Reliable Transformative User-Driven E-health System). VIRTUES delivers efficient, effective and accessible health care, on-demand and tailored to the specific needs of each patient. It provides patients with a patient-owned, cloud-based solution that integrates symptoms, remote monitoring data, and historic health data. VIRTUES outputs the integrated data into personalized recommendations for the management of complex conditions. The platform is a centralized and highly versatile digital health solution which can accommodate a variety of complex conditions and patient populations. Importantly, VIRTUES is not a telehealth tool or app; it is a disruptive innovation...

About 10 per cent of heart attack survivors are left with pump dysfunction caused by scar tissue, leaving them at a higher risk of heart failure, which impacts about 600,000 Canadians. Heart failure has a negative impact on quality of life and can lead to cardiac arrest, which is estimated to cause half of the deaths from heart disease in North America.  Pump function often improves within the six months following a heart attack, but if it doesn’t — and the damage is severe enough — patients may need more intense treatment, such as an implanted cardiac defibrillator, which helps identify and treat the heart rhythms that cause cardiac arrest.  Guidelines recommend patients receive a followup echocardiogram, or ‘echo’, a special ultrasound test that measures heart function, three to six months after a heart attack to assess their risk. But a recent national study, co-led by the Libin Cardiovascular Institute’s Dr. Stephen Wilton, MD, found that about one-third of patients don’t have the recommended followup.  “When we asked patients why they did or didn’t have a followup echo, the most common reason was that it wasn’t ordered,” says Wilton, an associate professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University...

“Patient care has motivated me to become what I am today,” says Daniel Gelman, CEO of Aufero Medical. That passion and belief have guided the electrical and biomedical engineer over the past seven years to pioneer a device to help treat the most common and clinically significant form of heart arrhythmia – atrial fibrillation. Aufero Medical’s technology stabilizes the point of contact between a catheter – the medical device used to treat arrhythmia – and inside of the heart wall. “I truly believe that our technology is going to impact patient lives significantly,” he says. Heart chambers, called atria, generate electrical signals that eventually produce heartbeats. Diseased atria may result in rapid, irregular heartbeats known as atrial fibrillation (AF). Patients with AF have an increased risk of stroke and often complain of chest pain, shortness of breath, light-headedness, and palpitations. Doctors typically treat AF by inserting a thin, long and flexible device (catheter) into the heart and deliver high-energy radiofrequency waves to burn (ablate) the diseased tissues. The method is not always successful.  Gelman noticed a problem around 2014-2015 during his Ph.D. studies. “During ablation procedures, it was challenging for physicians to maintain stable contact between the catheter tip and moving heart wall,”...