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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
On September 29, 2023, the CVC hosted the 10th annual CVC Colloquium. We were pleased to resume hosting this meeting in-person and to engage with our cardiovascular research colleagues in our very own ‘backyard’ – on the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton! The theme for this year’s meeting was “Shaping the Future of Cardiovascular […]
Growing evidence suggests that the gut microbiome plays an important role in understanding the origins and development of heart failure (HF). It is also thought that fermentable dietary fiber (FDF) could have a direct impact on the gut microbiome; however, no adequately controlled studies have previously measured the effect of FDF in patients with HF. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a condition characterized by high blood pressure in the pulmonary artery that carries blood from the heart to the lungs. PAH is a heterogeneous disease, meaning it has several root causes, and how the disease manifests is determined by a number of factors, such as PAH subtype, genetic background, age, […]
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 […]
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 […]
A pair of recent publications in the Canadian Journal of Diabetes examined diabetes in pregnancy in Alberta. This research was conducted by CVC post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Deliwe Ngwezi, and was supervised by Drs. Padma Kaul and Anamaria Savu; other members of the team included Dr. Rose Yeung (University of Alberta) and Dr. Sonia Butalia (University […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]
While the COVID-19 vaccines can reduce the likelihood of people with COVID-19 requiring admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), little is known about the effect of these vaccines on outcomes in patients with critical illness. In a recently published study in Critical Care Medicine, researchers sought to examine how vaccination and booster status impact […]
