“I am always looking for ways to help patients with atrial fibrillation lead full lives,” says Dr. Jason Andrade, University of British Columbia Cardiology Professor. He is currently leading a CANet-funded project, ‘Early Invasive vs. Delayed Intervention for Atrial Fibrillation’ which explores the first line of treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF). AF, a heart rhythm disorder, results in rapid, irregular heartbeats. Patients are at a greater risk for stroke and death. “We have pretty good information on how to manage atrial fibrillation at its later stages,” Andrade says, “but can we intervene sooner to improve outcomes?” Andrade’s quest for an improved, more rapid treatment for AF might just come down to a matter of when to intervene. He has teamed up with CANet’s industry partners Baylis and Medtronic CryoCath. Medtronic has developed a revolutionary new technology to advance AF treatment, Medtronic’s Cryoablation Catheter freezes and destroys the faulty cardiac tissues. “This is a major advance in the interventional treatment of AF, and a significant Canadian accomplishment,” Andrade says. Importantly, it reduces the patient’s dependence on antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs), which are often ineffective, and can have severe side-effects such as organ toxicity. CANet’s industry partnerships, such as with Medtronic, demonstrate the...

Look once. Look twice. Look again. Drs. Frank Prato and Allan Skanes are taking no chances when it comes to improving atrial fibrillation (AF) therapies. The CANet Investigators and professors of Medicine at Western University is putting faulty heart tissues – one of the main culprits of AF – under microscopes, MRIs, X-rays, nuclear medicine procedures and myriad other imaging technologies to develop “a clear, rational approach to selecting the right kind of treatment for AF patients.” In doing so, they are helping provide effective, efficient and accessible arrhythmia care in Canada and worldwide, all critical CANet targets. Cardiac tissues called atria generate electric signals that subsequently produce heartbeats. Diseased tissues and/or faulty electric signals result in rapid, irregular heartbeats – or atrial fibrillation – with frequent symptoms of chest pain, shortness of breath, light-headedness, and palpitations. Their pioneering project Atrial Image-guided Decision to Optimize Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation (AID-AF) scrutinizes diseased atria through a battery of medical imaging techniques utilizing, for example, microscopy, x-rays, and MRI. It also studies, among other things, those faulty electric signals. In other words, they are looking at AF repeatedly, in a variety of ways. “This more accurate understanding will help doctors pick the...

“When our employees see technology being used to help patients, it gives us strong motivation to work harder and stronger,” says Kris Shah, President of Baylis Medical. A few months ago, CANet investigator and Western University Medicine professor Peter Leong-Sit became the world’s first physician to use a pioneering medical device developed and manufactured by Baylis to make atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation procedures safer and more effective. The procedure was a success. “That event helped lift the entire company to a new level,” Shah remembers fondly. For almost three decades, Baylis, located in Mississauga, Ontario, has developed and distributed state-of-the-art medical products in Canada and across the world. When CANet launched in 2015, it sought out organizations that shared the Network’s vision – to significantly improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and accessibility of arrhythmia care delivery in Canada and around the world. Baylis fit the bill. “We are very fortunate to be associated with CANet since inception,” Shah says. “As a result of our strong association with CANet, we feel our company has grown at a much faster rate than we otherwise would have. It created a number of meaningful jobs in Ontario, as well as helped deploy our technology on...

Fainting, also known as syncope, is the sudden loss of consciousness. In most cases, fainting is not dangerous – unless it is complicated by a fall or other injury – and the person recovers quickly. In some cases, however, fainting can be an indicator that something is wrong with the heart and that blood is not being pumped properly. During pregnancy in particular, a woman’s body undergoes a lot of changes. These include hormonal changes, an increase in the amount of blood in the body, changes to the structure of the heart and in heart rate. These can make pregnant women more likely to experience dizziness and fainting. However, most of the information about fainting during pregnancy is anecdotal; we don’t really know how often it occurs and whether it has any consequences for the health of the child or the mother. My colleagues and I therefore decided to answer these questions using a large cohort of almost 500,000 womenwho gave birth in the Canadian province of Alberta over a 10-year period between 2005 and 2014. This study is part of a larger program of research being conducted at the Canadian VIGOUR Centre (CVC) at the University of Alberta – to develop a Canadian Syncope Atlas....

Researchers in Ontario are attempting to figure out how to deliver life-saving medical supplies in record times by answering a simple question with profound implications: Can an ambulance or a drone reach the scene of a medical emergency faster? To test this, medical personnel simulated a cardiac arrest emergency in a rural area north of Toronto last month in order to see if an ambulance or a drone would reach the pretend patient first. The pilot project’s tests began with a mock 911 call and the dispatch of an ambulance from the Region of Peel’s EMS headquarters in Brampton, Ont. At the same time, a remotely controlled drone carrying an automated external defibrillator (AED) took to the skies from a nearby industrial park. Researchers in Ontario are attempting to figure out how to deliver life-saving medical supplies in record times by answering a simple question with profound implications: Can an ambulance or a drone reach the scene of a medical emergency faster? To test this, medical personnel simulated a cardiac arrest emergency in a rural area north of Toronto last month in order to see if an ambulance or a drone would reach the pretend patient first. The pilot project’s...

This month, residents of Caledon, Ontario, will continue to see multiple EMS vehicles zip by their streets, responding to 911 calls. If they happen to look up, they will see something new. Drones equipped with Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) – racing to the same locations. Dr. Sheldon Cheskes will be examining the response time and the impact these drones will have in saving the lives of cardiac arrest victims. “Drones may be able to beat firefighters and paramedics to the scene of a cardiac arrest, and those extra minutes could be life-savers,” says Cheskes, a CANet Investigator, medical director at Sunnybrook Centre for Prehospital Medicine, and Associate professor of Emergency Medicine at The University of Toronto. “Survival chances decrease by 7 to 10 per cent for every minute of cardiac arrest.” Cheskes’ CANet-funded project, “AED On The Fly” is pioneering how Canada manages cardiac arrest situations, by assessing the potential of dispatching AED-equipped drones – when a 911 call comes in for a cardiac arrest victim, along with the traditional fire and ambulance response. Bystanders will be guided in the use of the AED in the drone by real-time smartphone technology applied to the AED. “When bystanders provide shocks through...

CANet investigators use data from implanted and wearable cardiac devices to deliver more efficient cardiac arrhythmia care for patients across Canada. Currently, the Network is piloting wearable devices that transmit electrocardiogram (ECG) data into VIRTUES which will help doctors and patients track atrial fibrillation episodes, providing patients with personalized health care delivery, empowerment, and ownership to co-manage their health with easily accessible medical information and personalized care plans at their fingertips. Typically, healthcare data is generated in silos creating additional workload on clinicians to make their decisions and provide care. When data lives in a lot of different places, that can challenge both the privacy and security of your data. Now imagine all that data sitting in one central repository. When CANet needed an efficient, flexible, and secure repository solution to support its complex e-health workflows involving researchers, clinicians, and patients, two Canadian companies stepped up to the plate. “One of the biggest bottlenecks in healthcare data management is time spent creating research tools rather than research studies,” says Duncan Weatherston, Chief Executive Officer of Toronto-based Simpatico Intelligent Systems. “Our biggest impact is easing the complexity of creating flexible and customizable tools for clinicians,” Weatherston says. “You are limited only...

“As product designers, we have to fall in love with the problem instead of the solution,” says Jonathan Kochis, head of Research and Design at the London, Ontario based firm Res.im. “Focus on the solution, and you end up with a narrow view, possibly missing something crucial.” Res.im has partnered with CANet to design front-end elements of the VIRTUES Clinical Platform – CANet’s user-driven clinical application that will transform how patients and clinicians manage arrhythmia. VIRTUES will give doctors and patients the most up-to-date medical records at a moment’s notice. It will empower patients and caregivers to be active partners in the management of their health. Kochis highlights the growing demand by consumers to have everything that they might need at their fingertips, accessible via phone. Healthcare organizations must move away from traditional ideas of healthcare access, and meet these expectations. “VIRTUES is meeting that consumer demand,” Kochis says. “It is smart and necessary.” CANet has also partnered with multiple companies across Canada to leverage world-class expertise in developing cutting-edge healthcare which also helps foster economic growth. These collaborations will help CANet come closer to its strategic goal of significantly improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and accessibility of arrhythmia care delivery...

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, you may be thinking of filling your heart with people you love, but February is also a month to think about your heart health. It’s Heart Month across the country, and with about 2.4 million Canadian adults affected by heart disease, Canadians are encouraged to learn about their individual risk factors and to make one change to improve their heart health. “Everyone one of us in North American and in Canada is at some risk of developing heart disease,” said Dr. Anthony Tang, CEO and scientific director of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet). “For some, the risk is higher, and some of that has to do with how you live your life.” “If you live a healthy life — you eat well, you exercise regularly, you don’t smoke — if you do all those things you [can reduce your risk].” While living a healthy lifestyle can help, Tang said biology can also play a role in your chances of developing heart disease. According to Tang, London leads Canada and the world in heart disease research. Right now, he said, researchers are working to identify who is at a greater risk of developing...

London, ON, February 1, 2019 — Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) leverages cutting-edge technology to empower its patients. Digital innovations like artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and consumer-grade wearables are now mainstream. Healthcare services must invest in these breakthroughs to deliver better medical care for Canadians. CANet is currently focusing on solutions – advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain technology – towards one simple strategic goal – significantly improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and accessibility of arrhythmia care delivery in Canada. “We are staying ahead of the digital-health curve by bridging the gap between doctors, technologists, and patients,” says CANet Research Data and Systems Manager Dimitri Popolov. So far, that gap has been a key obstacle in developing advanced healthcare technology. CANet’s VIRTUES Clinical Platform – a user-driven clinical application – is transforming how CANet works with patients and clinicians to manage arrhythmia. It presents patients with their health data and includes them in the decision-making process aimed at improving health outcomes. Think of VIRTUES as precision medicine – a bundle of technology and medical breakthroughs wrapped in an online platform seamlessly and securely sharing valuable clinical data among wearable medical devices and databases, doctors and patients, all across...