Syncope, commonly known as fainting, occurs when an individual experiences a temporary loss of consciousness caused by a decrease in blood flow to the brain. Professor Robert Sheldon, working at the University of Calgary, has dedicated much of his career to the investigation of syncope and its causes. Over the past three decades, extensive collaborative international research has explored this phenomenon with the aim of providing timely access to high quality care, while giving patients the tools that empower them to manage their condition themselves. Episodes of ‘syncope’ or sudden fainting followed by a relatively speedy recovery make up approximately 1%–1.5% of all emergency department visits. The tests and diagnoses following these episodes can be extremely varied, making the effective evaluation and treatment of affected individuals difficult. Working closely with international colleagues, Professor Sheldon at the University of Calgary and founder of the Canadian Autonomics and Syncope Alliance, has studied syncope extensively for almost 30 years. This highly collaborative research has forged the way for the development of effective guidelines and improved diagnosis, management and treatment. Causes of syncope Syncope episodes can be related to a wide range of biological factors or medical conditions. Vasovagal syncope, mediated by the autonomic...
London, ON, September 11, 2017 — The Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) is pleased to announce the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) has awarded Dr. Anthony Tang, Professor of Medicine at Western University and Scientific Director / CEO of CANet, as the 2017 CCS Research Achievement Award winner. Dr. Anthony Tang will be recognized at the CCS Awards Ceremony on Sunday, October 22nd, 2017, during the 2017 Canadian Cardiovascular Conference (CCC) in Vancouver, BC. “On behalf of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada, I extend the sincerest congratulations to Dr. Anthony Tang for being named the recipient of the 2017 CCS Research Achievement Award for his long-standing dedication to research in improving the lives of people with cardiac arrhythmia and heart failure.” said Dr. Pierre Boyle, CANet Board Chair. “Dr. Anthony Tang’s national and international research, as well as, his contributions and leadership to CANet and the arrhythmia community have been transformational. Highly respected among his colleagues, Dr. Anthony Tang is a researcher at the highest level of achievement. The Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada is extremely proud of Dr. Anthony Tang’s accomplishments.” The prestigious Research Achievement Award was created in 1982 in recognition of research excellence. Dr. Anthony Tang...
Doctors in the Emergency Department at The Ottawa Hospital couldn’t explain why Jacinthe Bisson was having fainting spells, until a clinical study revealed she had a life-threatening heart condition. In one year, the 51-year-old had three syncope, or fainting, episodes. But by the time she arrived at the hospital, she was fine and the doctors could not identify what had caused her to faint. Often syncope is brought on by dehydration, a drop in blood pressure, or an overactive nervous system (such as fainting when seeing blood). Bisson had none of these issues. A small percentage of people with syncope suffer from serious medical conditions, such as an irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia. Often patients with unexplained syncope are monitored for few hours. However, if their heartbeat is normal during that time, their condition isn’t caught and they could be discharged only to go home and later die from an arrhythmia. Bisson was an ideal candidate to take part in a clinical study led by scientist and emergency physician Dr. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy, who is also a professor at the University of Ottawa. “I wanted to find out what was going on with me. And I’m interested in science and research, so if...
CANet Network Investigators Dr. Jason Andrade and Dr. Allan Skanes, along with Industry Partners Allison Rubino (Clinical Research Manager, Medtronic Canada) and Kris Shah (President, Baylis Medical), discuss the ways CANet is working to improve atrial fibrillation treatment and care. Read all about it in this feature article written by the Networks of Centres of Excellence: “Fixing” Atrial Fibrillation Earlier Would Benefit Millions of Canadians.
(London, ON): The Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) and its partners are pleased to announce funding for five new strategic research grants (SRG) totaling over $2.8 million with an additional $2.8 million in matching funds. The Strategic Research Grants will fund research that brings together clinicians, engineers, social scientists, industry, government and patients, in an effort to reduce premature deaths and suffering caused by heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias). “The projects that are receiving funding will help CANet to meet our strategic goals to decrease hospital admissions and improve the quality of life for millions of Canadians with arrhythmias,” 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.” CANet invited applications for multidisciplinary, multi-sectoral and multi-centered research programs designed to impact the care and/or lives of people living with arrhythmias. After an intensive review process, CANet awarded the following five projects: Arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation, syncope, and other common heart rhythm disturbances affect millions of Canadians resulting in early unexpected deaths and reduced quality of life. Arrhythmias are projected to be the leading cause of death in Canada by 2020. ...
Read Dr. Ratika Parkash’s latest article in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology: Primary Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death With Device Therapy in Urban and Rural Populations Are Patients in Rural Areas Being Deprived of Potentially Lifesaving Therapy? New report in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology shows that rural patients have lower referral rates and higher refusal rates for implantable cardioverter defibrillators, a standard device therapy for prevention of sudden death in heart failure patients Philadelphia, PA, January 25, 2017 – The implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), a primary prevention device therapy, can help save the lives of patients suffering from heart failure or following a heart attack. Specialized heart function clinics often refer patients for implantation of this device, but a new report in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology indicates that a significant proportion of patients at clinics in both rural and urban geographic locations were not referred and that this disparity was greater among patients in rural locations. Furthermore, the patient referral refusal and death rates were higher in rural areas. “In our study of specialized heart function clinics, mortality rates were compared between patients who refused referral or refused an ICD to those patients who were found to be...
Solving cardiac arrhythmia research queries, like many other types of medical research probes, can take years. The Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) has partnered with IBM on a mission to change that with a new cloud-based research platform designed to speed query time from a matter of years to just minutes. Called Heart-SIGN (System for Information Gathering and Networking), the new analytics platform will manage, monitor, store, correlate and analyze data from all CANet research projects. Most important, it will facilitate sharing of findings between researchers. CANet, based at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont., is a multi-disciplinary network that brings together families, government and leading hospitals and universities, including University Health Network, Hamilton Health Sciences, Sunnybrook, and others. They fund a number of research initiatives across Canada. “The concept is that instead of doing the research individually, they wanted a platform for sharing of results,” says Nathalie LeProhon, Vice President, Healthcare, IBM Canada. CANet is using IBM BigInsights, a set of cloud-based analytical tools that are open source, explains LeProhon, plus IBM’s Watson Analytics to build an informatics platform to help spark new ideas and share research related to heart rhythm disturbances. This combination of IBM...
(London, ON): Today marks the launch of Heart Month and an opportunity to bring to the forefront a heart condition that can be serious and sometimes overlooked. Millions of Canadians experience irregular heart rhythms, known as arrhythmias. In fact, arrhythmias are projected to be the leading cause of death in Canada by 2020. The Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada is a national Network of Centres of Excellence committed to transforming the arrhythmia health care system by focusing on atrial fibrillation (AF), sudden cardiac death (SCD) and syncope (fainting). Although many arrhythmias may occur normally, others are more dangerous and can affect the supply of blood to the heart or other organs. Left untreated, this can sometimes lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure, or SCD. Sudden cardiac death kills 40,000 Canadians a year, and only has an approximately 5 per cent survival rate. Stephen Blais, an Ottawa City Councillor, is one of those lucky few. “The work [CANet is] doing will make a demonstrable difference in the communities you live in…across Canada…and potentially worldwide,” said Blais. ”Thank you.” The costs associated with AF, SCD and fainting are staggering; when indirect costs such as the loss of productivity of the patients...
Dr. Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy, a CANet Investigator, was the senior author of a study published yesterday by the CMAJ. Chest pain is the second most common reason for emergency visits across Canada, and accounts for approximately 1 million visits annually. Of those chest pain patients, 70 per cent will be placed on a monitored bed in the emergency department (ED), blocking access to other sicker patients with greater need of a monitored bed. However, only 1.9 per cent of all chest pain patients will develop any arrhythmia during their emergency stay. The published study validated the Ottawa Chest Pain Cardiac Monitoring Rule, a tool that identifies low-risk patients who can be removed from cardiac monitoring. The tool can also be implemented at triage for diverting these low-risk patients to the ambulatory (non-monitored) section of the ED. By using the tool, 1/3 of all chest patients currently utilizing monitored beds for several hours can be diverted or removed from cardiac monitors. The outcomes of this research will mean better utilization of health resources and a reduction in ED wait times. Congratulations to Dr. Thiruganasambandamoorthy and his team of researchers (many of whom are CANet HQP and investigators) on your recent publication.
