Syncope is a transient loss of consciousness, described as fainting or passing out. It usually relates to a temporary insufficient flow of blood to the brain. Syncope is a common condition, which can occur at any age and in people without other medical problems. Neurally mediated syncope (NMS), the most frequent cause of fainting, is benign. It is most common in children or young adults but can occur at any age. If this type of syncope is prolonged, it can trigger a seizure. Cardiac syncope is caused by a heart or blood vessel condition that affects blood flow to the brain. These conditions can include arrhythmia, structural heart disease, blockages in the cardiac blood vessels, valve disease, aortic stenosis, blood clot, or heart failure. A challenge with syncope is to accurately identify low-risk syncope patients in the emergency department avoiding hospitalization, better still, have paramedics identify these patients and avoid going to the hospital altogether. Click here to view ‘On Track: Syncope’

Sometimes, all it takes to make a difference is a handshake, a smile and the words ‘tell me about yourself.’ Mary Runte is reaching out to arrhythmia patients – including families and support groups – to document and share their experiences of living and dealing with the illness. Runte, a CANet Investigator, Chair of the CANet Patient Advisory Committee, and professor at University of Lethbridge’s Faculty of Management, recently received CANet’s dedicated Social Sciences Grant totaling $240,000, for her project, ‘Mapping the Arrhythmia Patient Journey’ which documents the social, emotional and psychological impact of arrhythmia in patients. Her research will provide Canada’s first in-depth and comprehensive record of the patient experience of arrhythmia through the perspective of the patients themselves. From this information, doctors will be able to design more efficient, effective and holistic interventions that will take into account patient priorities. It is also essential to take into account the economic, social, and psychological impacts of the illness in patients suffering from arrhythmias. For example, doctors are often unaware of arrhythmia’s effect on a patient’s employment situation, family responsibilities, and lifestyle choices. “Real world measures are important when real-life problems are being investigated,” Runte says. She is an arrhythmia patient...

Sometimes, all one needs to do is listen. With CANet’s social sciences initiatives to support the examination of new approaches to research critical to the transformation of arrhythmia care practices in Canada, Hearts in Rhythm Organization (HIRO) has embarked on a pioneering nation-wide journey to listen to the problems faced by Canadians suffering from inherited heart rhythm disorders (IRD) such as inherited arrhythmia conditions and the unpredictable sudden cardiac death. The main goal of HIRO’s journey is to provide standardized IRD care that addresses the unique psychological needs of all Canadians. Over the next two years, with the financial support provided for this CANet-funded study, along with multiple network investigators working across four provinces, HIRO will conduct a nation-wide online survey (both in English and French) of approximately 400 IRD patients, their family members and their caregivers. “CANet’s funding of the Social Sciences is critical in helping us reach as many Canadian inherited heart rhythm patients & families as possible,” says Brianna Davies, a Research Genetic Counsellor and CANet Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) Trainee. Aligned with CANet’s patient engagement goals, the HIRO survey team, consisting of cardiologists, nurses, and genetic counsellors, worked with three ‘patient-partners’ who helped develop the survey...

Two national projects led by Ottawa emergency medicine researchers received a total of $5.5 million from the Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) and matching funders. Dr. Christian Vaillancourt’s team* aims to help 9-1-1 communication officers save the lives of more people who experience cardiac arrest. About a quarter of individuals whose hearts stop suddenly will gasp for air, which can fool 9-1-1 callers and communication officers into delaying life-saving CPR. Dr. Vaillancourt’s team will test whether a piloted educational tool can help 9-1-1 communication officers recognize cardiac arrest when abnormal breathing is present, and improve survival rates across Canada. Dr. Ian Stiell’s team** aims to standardize care for patients with acute atrial fibrillation so that most patients with this irregular heart beat are treated in emergency departments and discharged home without needing to be hospitalized. Dr. Stiell’s team will test new guidelines they helped developed in 10 Canadian hospitals with the goal of decreasing hospitalizations for atrial fibrillation by at least 20 percent. See CANet news release for details. *Co-investigators: Ian Blanchard, Jamie Brehaut, Manya Charette, Jim Christenson, Kathryn Cyr Katie Dainty, Paul Dorian, Michael Feldman, Judah Goldstein, Stephanie Hodges, Colette Lacroix Shannon Leduc, Laurie Morrison, Matthew Spidel, Monica Taljaard, John Tallon, Venkatesh...

For some of the best minds in cardiac care, the successful treatment of atrial fibrillation has been a moving target. Until now. CANet’s Commercialization grant is funding the development of the Catheter Contact-Force Controller (CFC), a pioneering device that will result in more effective atrial fibrillation (AF) treatments, fewer repeat procedures, and lower healthcare costs. Dr. Drangova, a scientist at the Robarts Research Institute and a professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics in the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University, recently received CANet’s Commercialization Grant totaling $300,000, for her project, ‘Catheter Contact-Force Controller for Cardiac Ablation Therapy.’ Daniel Gelman, a CANet Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) Trainee, is an electrical and computer engineer who invented and continues to enhance the CFC with Drangova. He first presented his research at the Heart Rhythm Society in San Francisco – the leading conference in cardiac electrophysiology, where he received an overwhelming amount of attention from the academic, clinical and industry arenas. His research poster received top prizes at the Imaging Network Ontario Symposium, London Health Research Day, and CANet annual meeting. He previously received a CANet Discovery Grant totaling $25,000. “I greatly benefited from CANet’s HQP-trainee program,” Gelman says. “It provided valuable resources and opportunities for me to...

Atrial Fibrillation research A total of $500,000, from the W.J. Henderson Foundation gift will support a novel new research study into Atrial Fibrillation. This condition is the most common type of arrhythmia – which is also known as an irregular heart rhythm. It affects approximately one in four Canadians and individuals with the condition have a three to five times greater risk of stroke than those without it. The new study is a partnership between KHSC and Providence Care and will be led by Dr. Benedict Glover. It will look at how lifestyle modifications could improve outcomes for patients as the risk of developing atrial fibrillation increases with age and with other factors such as diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure. “This will be an incredible study because we now have the absolute best technology in treating atrial fibrillation using catheters, computer systems and less invasive techniques. Now we are taking a step back and saying, wait a second, maybe if we treat those underlying conditions we could prevent hospitalizations and actually maybe even cause atrial fibrillation regression in patients that already have it,” said Dr. Glover, the Head of KHSC’s Electrophysiology Program. Glover continued, “lifestyle modification is probably the...

London, ON, February 16, 2018 — The Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) and its partners are pleased to announce funding of 10 research grants totaling over $4.4 million with an additional $10 million in matching funds. With this funding cycle, CANet continues to grow in scale and scope. The introduction of a dedicated Social Sciences competition advances CANet’s mandate to integrate the work of the social sciences and humanities better. CANet’s Commercialization Grant has further leveraged the investments of the NCE program surpassing CANet’s goal of securing an additional $40M in partner research contributions. “With firm commitments from Canadian partners, our inclusion of patients throughout our research process, and our mandate to remain solutions-driven, our latest round of research proposals have been funded. We look forward to the outcomes and impacts of this critical research that will improve patient care,” said Dr. Anthony Tang, CEO and Scientific Director of CANet. “We are grateful to our partners for providing the matching funds to help advance this important research.” Arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation, syncope, and other common heart rhythm disturbances affect millions of Canadians resulting in unexpected early deaths and reduced quality of life. Arrhythmias are projected to be the...

As CANet strives to improve the lives of Canadians living with arrhythmias, one of the issues that come to the fore is geography. How can we ensure people are getting the best care where they are when they need it? Dr. Ratika Parkash is an electrophysiologist at Halifax’s QEII Health Sciences Centre, and a Professor at Dalhousie University. Her innovative CANet-funded program, Remote Patient Management for Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices (RPM-CIED) is an excellent example of a program that looks at how to serve people living in remote areas of Canada. There are currently approximately 120,000 Canadians living with either a pacemaker or an implantable defibrillator (ICD). Patients who have these devices are required to visit a cardiac device clinic at least once a year. Dr. Paul MacDonald, a cardiologist at Cape Breton Regional Hospital, explains the challenges that some patients face: “We are over 400 km away from the teaching centre where these are implanted and so while we have dozens of patients with these devices if they do need to be checked or monitored … it’s a really big deal. It’s a trip to Halifax, it’s a five-hour drive, it’s generally an overnight stay … often patients’ families...

One of CANet’s strategic business and capacity development targets is to launch 30-40 new talents in public and private research. Those new talents are known as Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP). To support our HQP and help them launch their careers, we have created the CANet HQP Association for Trainees (CHAT). The CHAT Executive Committee reports to CANet’s Training and Education Committee, with a goal of helping to guide the CANet’s strategy for offering networking and career development opportunities, building multi-disciplinary collaborative relationships, and facilitating research. Trainees are the lifeblood of our research … They offer a lot, both in terms of what they do today, but [also] the promise of what they’ll do 5 years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now. Satish Raj, MD, MSCI, FRCPC Professor of Cardiac Sciences, Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta, University of Calgary One of the primary initiatives available to CHAT members is the Trainee Day held annually in conjunction with CANet’s Scientific Conference. Trainee Day 2017, held at the Westin Nova Scotian on Wednesday, September 13, featured interactive sessions on topics like statistics, knowledge translation, abstract writing, and patient engagement. The speed networking session gave attendees a chance to learn...

Dr. Anthony Tang, CANet’s Scientific Director and CEO, received three prestigious, peer-nominated awards during the 2017 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Vancouver, B.C. On Sunday, October 22, at the CCS Recognition Awards ceremony, Dr. Tang was presented with the CCS Research Achievement Award. The award is given in recognition of research excellence, and winners are nominated by CCS Members, Deans of Canadian Medical Schools, and Heads and Program Directors of Cardiovascular Programs in Canada. He also received the CHRS Annual Achievement Award, which recognizes CHRS members who have made outstanding contributions in their career within the cardiovascular heart rhythm field. Winners are nominated by CHRS members who feel the person’s career has significantly aided the growth of and support to the heart rhythm field and who has highly respected attributes relative to this award. The respect and admiration that his colleagues have for Dr. Tang were clearly displayed that evening – both through the awards themselves and with the standing ovation that Dr. Tang received. On Monday, October 23, Dr. Tang was honoured to receive the inaugural Magdy Basta award from CHRS. This award was developed to honour Dr. Basta, an electrophysiologist who trained in London and worked in Halifax until...