CVC Cardiovascular Health Foundation Announces Newly Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Science

On Monday, March 18th, 2024 The CVC Cardiovascular Health Foundation (CVCF) announced a $5-millon donation that will fund a new research chair in cardiovascular science in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry (FoMD).  In addition to supporting critical advancements in research and health outcomes for patients, this initiative will foster collaborative engagement across disciplines within […]

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Gestational Diabetes: One Size Does Not Fit All

Gestational diabetes (GDM) is a type of diabetes that develops during pregnancy, and although it generally resolves after delivery, it has been associated with long-term health issues for both mothers and their babies. Rates of GDM are rising globally. Current professional guidelines differ on how to best diagnose and treat GDM, which is in part […]

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Dr. Jacob Udell Joins the CVC as a Senior Associate Faculty Member

The CVC is pleased to welcome Dr. Jacob Udell as a Senior Associate Faculty Member. Dr. Udell is the Division Head of Cardiology at the Women’s College Hospital, and Director of the Peter Munk Clinical Trials and Translation Unit at Toronto General Hospital. He is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of […]

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How Does Age Impact Complete Revascularization in Patients with STEMI?

The COMPLETE trial demonstrated that a treatment strategy of staged complete revascularization, consisting of angiography-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI, a minimally invasive procedure to open a blocked artery) of all suitable nonculprit lesions, reduced the number of major cardiovascular (CV) events when compared to culprit-lesion-only PCI in STEMI patients with multivessel disease. In this subgroup analysis of the […]

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Do Heart Failure Biomarkers Influence Heart Failure Treatment Response?

Heart failure (HF) is one of the leading causes of cardiac disease, death, and poor quality of life, and impacts approximately 26 million people worldwide. The frequency and seriousness of this condition emphasizes the importance of quick and accurate diagnosis, management, and treatment of HF. Emerging understanding about the cellular and molecular pathways of HF […]

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Winter 2023 Chronicle Newsletter

We are pleased to share the Winter 2023 issue of the Canadian Cardiac Chronicle newsletter. Highlights from this issue include: Read and subscribe to the newsletter here.

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Current and Future Insights from the VICTORIA Trial

Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), one of the leading causes of heart-related deaths worldwide, occurs when the heart is not able to effectively pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. The VICTORIA trial examined the effects of vericiguat (a novel first in class drug used to reduce the risk of death and […]

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Long-Term Safety and Efficacy of Alirocumab in Patients Post-Acute Coronary Syndrome

Although lipid-lowering therapy is frequently used as a long-term (typically lifetime) intervention to reduce cardiovascular risk, research on the efficacy and safety of this treatment strategy is often limited to the relatively short time frame of clinical trials (typically 2-5 years).  Alirocumab is an injectable monoclonal antibody directed against proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) that […]

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Age, Sex, and Outcomes in Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction

Age and sex are both factors in the treatment and outcomes of patients with heart failure (HF). Current research shows that women and older patients are under-represented in HF clinical trials, and as a result, guideline recommendations are largely based on data from men.   Published in JACC: Heart Failure, this secondary analysis of the VICTORIA trial […]

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Frailty: A New Vital Sign in Heart Failure Comes of Age

Frailty is a state of reduced physiological capacity across multiple body systems that increases vulnerability and poor health outcomes in older adults. Although frailty is common, particularly amongst people with cardiovascular disease, it often goes unrecognized. In a recent companion editorial published in the European Heart Journal (referring to the article ‘Frailty and outcomes in heart failure patients […]

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Kidney Function Monitoring in Patient with Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is an irregular heart rhythm that causes the heart to beat abnormally and often very fast. In many instances, AF and chronic kidney disease (CKD), a condition characterized by the sustained loss of kidney function over time, co-exist due to shared risk factors (such as diabetes and hypertension) and similar mechanisms in […]

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ECG Measurements Provide Additional Prediction Method for Death in Patients with High-Risk Heart Failure

In this secondary analysis of the VICTORIA trial, researchers sought to determine if electrocardiographic (ECG) measurements predict death in patients with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), a condition in which the heart is unable to pump out blood effectively. Recently published in the European Journal of Heart Failure, this study included 4,880 patients from the […]

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New Canadian Guidelines for the use of Antiplatelet Therapy

The 2023 Canadian Cardiovascular Society/Canadian Association of Interventional Cardiology guidelines for the use of antiplatelet therapy were presented on October 28th at Vascular 2023 in Montreal and simultaneously published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology. CVC faculty member, Dr. Kevin Bainey, was a key contributor to these guidelines as both the Guidelines Panel co-chair and lead author. The […]

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Iron Supplementation in Heart Failure: Results from the HEART-FID Study

In the Ferric Carboxymaltose in Heart Failure with Iron Deficiency (HEART-FID) trial, 3065 ambulatory patients who had heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (a condition in which the heart is unable to pump out blood effectively) and iron deficiency, were randomized 1:1 to receive an intravenous iron supplementation called ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) or placebo, in addition […]

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Fall 2023 Newsletter

The Fall 2023 issue of the Canadian Cardiac Chronicle newsletter is now available! Highlights from this issue include: Read and subscribe to the newsletter here.

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Assessing the Impact of the Pandemic on Outcomes for Hospitalized Patients

New research published in JAMA Network Open sought to examine whether outcomes for patients hospitalized with non-COVID-19 conditions but without concomitant SARS-CoV-2 infection were different before versus during the pandemic.  The researchers compared patient hospitalizations between April 1, 2018, and September 30, 2019, with those from April 1, 2020, and September 30, 2021, in 235 acute care […]

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