Vancouver, BC - Cryoballoon ablation produced better outcomes than antiarrhythmic drug (AAD) therapy among individuals receiving their initial treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF), according to the results of a new study led by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute scientist Dr. Jason Andrade.
The Centre for Cardiovascular Innovation – Centre d’Innovation Cardiovasculaire (CCI-CIC) is a new research centre at the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute that gives B.C.’s cardiovascular researchers the chance to develop research projects aimed at improving patient care. Launched with the inclusion of 47 cardiovascular co-investigators, CCI-CIC investigates 16 major domains within cardiovascular medicine including arrythmia, coronary and structural heart disease interventions, surgery, congenital heart disease, pediatrics, heart function, basic science and imaging.
Sleep apnea affects millions of people worldwide, and while airway support machines can effectively help treat many with the condition, more research is needed to determine the best intervention for individuals with both sleep apnea and heart failure.
“Heart failure can cause sleep apnea or sleep apnea can lead to high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke,” explains Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute researcher Dr. John Fleetham.
Living with a cardiometabolic condition such as heart disease, stroke or diabetes is hard enough, but having two or all three of these conditions--known as cardiometabolic multimorbidity--comes with an exponential increase in the risk of premature death. Knowing this and wanting to address the lack of medical literature around multimorbidity, researcher Dr. Brodie Sakakibara, who is affiliated with the Rehabilitation Research Program at the GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre, sought to discover possible connections between lifestyle and the development of cardiometabolic multimorbidity.
When a patient walks into an emergency room with chest pain, every minute counts. A protocol aimed at cutting down patient wait times for an essential heart condition diagnostic test was implemented at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), and research conducted through Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) reveals how well the protocol has performed, along with areas that could benefit from additional attention.
Talk with Gloria Muche now and the active 70-year-old will tell you that she regularly volunteers at her local church, works out at the gym and goes for long walks with her children and grandchildren. It is hard to believe that less than one year ago Muche led a relatively sedentary life, struggled to walk up a flight of stairs and was experiencing heart palpitations.
“I was out of breath just walking down the hall,” she recalls. “I spent a lot of time sitting and watching TV, and my energy levels were low. ”
Walking the halls of the emergency department as a cardiology fellow, Dr. Christopher Fordyce saw how some cardiac arrest patients waited longer than others to receive an essential cooling treatment. It occurred to Fordyce, who is now a cardiologist at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and a Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute researcher, that the varying times before a cooling treatment was administered might impact patients’ health outcomes.
69-year-old Olga Volkoff is a physically active and health-conscious senior. The retired business professor from Vancouver is so active that she didn’t think the slight chest discomfort and fatigue she felt after a triathlon were signs of a heart attack. Volkoff is part of a small sub-group of heart attack patients—mostly women—who don’t present with typical symptoms or show blockage in their arteries with standard testing.
A new study co-authored by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute scientist Dr. Helen Tremlett finds people with multiple sclerosis (MS) have an elevated risk of acute myocardial infarction, or AMI. AMI is the medical term for heart attack, caused when blood flow to the heart is blocked. The study, recently published in the journal Neurology, reviewed large population data sets from BC and Manitoba. It compared rates of AMI among people with MS to those in a larger general population.
Vancouver, BC – Late-breaking results of a major trial testing atrial fibrillation treatments have just been presented at the European Heart Rhythm Association Congress by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute scientist Dr. Jason Andrade.
