Our Impact

Network Stats

(2015 – 2023)

• 1,472 CANet-funded publications
• 7 commercialized technologies
• 10 patents issued, 5 filed
• 3 trademarks
• 3 start-up companies created

Catheter Ablation Superior to Drugs in Treating Ventricular Tachycardia

An international study conducted by the VANISH2 Study Team has demonstrated the superiority of catheter ablation over antiarrhythmic drug therapy for patients with ventricular tachycardia, a potentially life-threatening heart rhythm disorder. The study compared the standard treatment for suppressing these dangerous rhythms with antiarrhythmic drugs against catheter ablation. This minimally invasive procedure targets and neutralizes abnormal heart tissue, causing short circuits in the heart’s electric system. This research represents a significant advancement in arrhythmia management.

Results published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that catheter ablation more effectively reduced the incidence of recurrent arrhythmias and death than drug therapy. Furthermore, patients undergoing ablation did not have an increase in severe side effects, highlighting its potential to improve the quality of life for those battling ventricular tachycardia.

Focusing on safety and efficacy, the VANISH2 team noted that ablation provides long-term benefits by directly addressing the underlying electrical disturbances in the heart. These findings suggest a paradigm shift in treatment approaches, positioning catheter ablation as a preferred first-line therapy for many patients.

“Our findings demonstrate that catheter ablation should be considered a reasonable first-line treatment for ventricular tachycardia,” says John Sapp, CANet Investigator and principal lead of VANISH2. “By directly addressing the heart’s electrical dysfunction, we can significantly reduce arrhythmias and shocks from defibrillators, offering patients a better quality of life.”

CANet study identifies gaps in the nation’s efforts to reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death in heart attack survivors

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 heart attack survivors’ risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD).

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.

A CANet study tracking over 500 heart-attack survivors across Canada found that one in three patients with reduced cardiac muscle function after a heart attack did not have their medical checkups within six months (results published in JAMA Network Open). 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 was 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 end up receiving the recommended treatments,” says CANet investigator Stephen B. Wilton, who led the study.

The investigation found that the most common reason for not having a medical check-up was that it was not physician-ordered.

Lowering risk for stroke and death, improving quality of life, and reducing hospitalization: CANet-funded project develops pioneering cryoblation treatment for atrial fibrillation

A CANet project aimed at reducing atrial fibrillation (AF) hospitalizations in Canada using a revolutionary new treatment has successfully concluded its first clinical trial (results published in the New England Journal of Medicine).

AF, a heart rhythm disorder caused by faulty heart tissues, results in rapid, irregular heartbeats. Patients are at a greater risk for stroke and death.

CANet investigator Dr. Jason Andrade pioneered an AF treatment that freezes faulty heart tissues while minimizing damage to surrounding areas.

Dr. Andrade teamed up with CANet industry partners Medtronic and Baylis Medical to evaluate the new technology – cryoablation – that lowers the risk for arrhythmia recurrence and stroke, and prevents the progression of AF.

“This is a major advancement in the interventional treatment of AF and a significant Canadian accomplishment,” Dr. Andrade says.

Significantly, it reduces the patient’s dependence on antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs), which are ineffective and have severe side effects such as heart failure or organ toxicity.

Saving cardiac arrest victims’ lives in rural Canadian communities with rapid emergency response drones

CANet plays a crucial role in saving cardiac arrest patients in rural communities across Canada by helping develop drones that quickly deliver life-saving devices to bystanders.

The first few minutes after a cardiac arrest are critical.

Cardiac arrest survival rates are worse in rural communities compared to urban areas. Ambulance and fire services have slower response times. The public often does not know how to operate Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) – devices used to ‘shock’ the heart to restore its normal rhythm.

Sheldon Cheskes’ CANet-funded project, “AED On The Fly,” is pioneering how Canada deals with cardiac arrest. It is the first project of its kind to research the potential implementation of AED-equipped drones as part of an EMS response.

The future of cardiac arrest response in rural communities would significantly change. Our vision is that when a 911 call comes in for a cardiac arrest victim, a drone equipped with an AED is dispatched, along with ambulance and fire crews. Bystanders follow the instructions provided by a dispatcher to simplify the use of the AED and save lives.

“Drones have the potential to arrive earlier than firefighters and ambulances to the scene of a cardiac arrest in these communities, and those extra minutes could be life-savers,” says Cheskes, a CANet Investigator, medical director at Sunnybrook Centre for Prehospital Medicine, and professor of medicine at the University of Toronto.

Standardized atrial fibrillation treatment guidelines that reduce emergency room visits and ease the burden of the Canadian healthcare system endorsed by the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians

A CANet project is creating Canada’s first set of guidelines for emergency room (ER) physicians that standardize acute atrial fibrillation and flutter (AAFF) treatment across the country, reducing the length of patients’ stay by 21%.

The project has successfully implemented its AAF Best Practices Guidelines into 11 large emergency rooms in five provinces, with plans to be adopted over 1000 sites across Canada.

Most ERs in Canada treat AAFF – abnormally rapid heart rates that have been present for less than seven days and are often disabling to most patients – by using drugs or electricity to help return the heart to its normal ‘sinus’ rhythm. The procedure is known as cardioversion. Patients are usually discharged soon after that.

CANet Investigator Ian Stiell is an ER physician at The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. His ER group has maintained a low admission rate of less than five per cent for many years with an excellent safety record.

Stiell created the treatment guidelines by combining his ER experience and conversations with patients, ER physicians, and cardiologists from rural, community, and academic centres.

“We have seen more and more Canadian ER physicians willing to cardiovert AAFF patients and then discharge them directly home from the ER,” Stiell says. “We want to encourage ER physicians working in small, medium, and large hospitals across Canada to adopt the guidelines.”

Emergency room physicians can accurately predict serious outcomes for syncope (fainting) patients with a validated risk score

Projected to save the Canadian healthcare system approximately $70M per year, the CANet-funded Canadian Syncope Risk Score (CSRS) is helping doctors improve syncope care in the emergency room (ER), reducing the burden on hospitals throughout Canada.

Syncope is the temporary loss of consciousness due to the incomplete delivery of oxygen to the brain. A complete recovery immediately follows it. In some high-risk cases, syncope eventually leads to potentially fatal conditions like arrhythmias.

Syncope accounts for one to three percent of all emergency department visits.

Before creating the CSRS tool, doctors did not have standardized guidelines on evaluating syncope patients, differentiating between low- and high-risk cases, which patients to send back home, and whom to assess further.

The CSRS tool will result in 71% of all syncope patients being discharged quickly from the ER (within 2 hours).

Developed by CANet Investigator, the University of Ottawa Epidemiology and Community Medicine professor, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute scientist, and Ottawa Hospital doctor Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy, the CSRS helps physicians better identify which ER syncope patients need to be admitted, and which ones can be safely followed up in an outpatient clinic.

CSRS was successfully validated in a recent trial held in nine emergency departments across Canada.

Clinical registry — critical for predicting, preventing, and reducing sudden cardiac arrest cases — will help save thousands of Canadians’ lives each year

Canada’s first comprehensive database of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) cases is being developed with the help of CANet.

Co-led by CANet investigators Dr. Paul Dorian, a University of Toronto Medicine professor, and Dr. Steve Lin, a University of Toronto Emergency Medicine Assistant Professor, the Canadian Sudden Cardiac Arrest Network Registry (C-SCAN) is a comprehensive, unique registry that will help understand SCA causes and outcomes.

SCA affects close to 35,000 Canadians each year, of which close to 90% die.

“The C-SCAN project, with its detailed tally of SCA cases, patient histories, and other details – location of the SCAs, actions taken by paramedics, patient survival rates, for example – will be critical for predicting, preventing, and reducing SCA cases,” Dorian says. It will also help improve the lives of those who survive it.

The CANet-funded project successfully advocated for a mandatory AED registry in Ontario. It helped draft legislation to create a compulsory Provincial AED registry, Bill 141 Defibrillator Registration and Public Access Act, 2020. This legislation received royal assent in June 2020.

C-SCAN combines information from three sources – the Canadian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium‘s (CanROC) database of SCA cases, in-hospital data from the Canadian Institutes of Health Information, and uniquely, coroner’s reports – a vital trove of health-related information, usually buried under slow-moving administrative and bureaucratic procedures.