Wednesday April 22, 2020 was Administrative Professionals Day! Thank you to all the Administrative Staff within our program whose contributions to this team don’t go unnoticed. Your hard work and dedication is MUCH appreciated.

Congratulations Irene!

Congratulations to Irene Nazarevich, CRN, on CSIU, on her retirement effective May 1, 2020. Irene has been at St. Boniface Hospital since her graduation from the St. Boniface School of Nursing in 1976. Initially she worked on the Orthopedics Unit for several years, then went back to school and completed her Bachelor of Education Degree in 1995. When she came back to nursing, she discovered Cardiac Sciences to be the area that appealed to her the most, first working as a general duty nurse, and then as a Clinic Resource Nurse on CSIU until her retirement. For that we are immensely grateful! We thank her for all the hard work and dedication to the CSP and wish her a long, healthy and happy retirement.

Rakesh Arora and the exec of the CSCCS were the authors of a thoughtful piece in the National Post this week entitled Opinion on COVID-19: An opportunity to re-examine how we provide health care. The link is https://nationalpost.com/opinion/opinion-on-covid-19-an-opportunity-to-re-examine-how-we-provide-health-care.

Davinder Jassal ably represented the CSP in a national webinar sponsored by the CSE and CCS on The Practice of Echocardiography During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The link is https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/5142748342045541388. (I found the discussion of the role of POCEC use which can be transferred to PACS and used as the basis of an EPR report especially interesting).

SHOUT OUTS

BIG Congratulations to Malek Kass who has been promoted to Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine!

Congratulations to Wei Ang Yan who just got the news he received a CIHR Fellowship Award.

Congratulations to Anna Chudyk (co-supervised by Rakesh Arora) who received a CIHR SPOR Fellowship Award. Link to recent posting in the U of M news.

Publications by our Faculty this Week

Hassan A, Arora RC, Adams C, Bouchard D, Cook R, Gunning D, Lamarche Y, Malas T, Moon M, Ouzounian M, Rao V, Rubens F, Tremblay P, Whitlock R, Moss E, Légaré JF; Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons. Cardiac Surgery in Canada During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Guidance Statement From the Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons. Can J Cardiol. 2020 Apr 8. pii: S0828-282X(20)30323-8. doi: 10.1016/j.cjca.2020.04.001. [Epub ahead of print]

Manji RA, Arora RC. Commentary: Are serious adverse events inevitable? J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2020 Mar 20. pii: S0022-5223(20)30638-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2020.03.036. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available.

Haft JW, Atluri P, Alawadi G, Engelman D, Grant MC, Hassan A, Legare JF, Whitman G, Arora RC; Society of Thoracic Surgeons COVID-19 Taskforce and the Workforce for Adult Cardiac and Vascular Surgery. Adult cardiac surgery during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Tiered Patient Triage Guidance Statement. Ann Thorac Surg. 2020 Apr 10. pii: S0003-4975(20)30548-8. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2020.04.003. [Epub ahead of print]

Ducas RA, Harris L, Labos C, Kumar Nair GK, Wald RM, Hickey EJ, Silversides CK. Outcomes in Young Adults with Tetralogy of Fallot and Pulmonary Annular Preserving or Transannular Patch Repairs. Can J Cardiol. 2020 Apr 20. pii: S0828-282X(20)30399-8. doi: 10.1016/j.cjca.2020.04.014. [Epub ahead of print] Konigstein M, Kandzari DE, Smits PC, Love MP, Banai S, Golomb M, Perlman GY, Ozan MO, Liu M, Ben-Yehuda O, Stone GW. Outcomes of Patients With Coronary Arterial Bifurcation Narrowings Undergoing Provisional 1-Stent Treatment (from the BIONICS Trial). Am J Cardiol. 2020 Apr 14. pii: S0002-9149(20)30344-1. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2020.04.002. [Epub ahead of print]

Big shout out to our victorious Cardiology Resident Team which won the Jeopardy Competition at the Western Canada Resident Education Program last Saturday in Vancouver. The team comprised Chris Hayes, Joel Scott Herridge, Asem Suliman, Judy Luu, Chris Parr, Umar Ismail, Liane Arcinas, Kirsten Marshall, Phyllis Sin and was ably supported by Head Coach Malek Kass. Congrats to all.

Publications by our Faculty this Week

Kashani HH, Lodewyks C, Kavosh MS, Jeyaraman MM, Neilson C, Okoli G, Rabbani R, Abou-Setta AM, Zarychanski R, Grocott HP. The effect of restrictive versus liberal transfusion strategies on longer-term outcomes after cardiac surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis with trial sequential analysis. Can J Anaesth. 2020 Feb 28. doi: 10.1007/s12630-020-01592-w. [Epub ahead of print] Review.

Parr CJ, Kass M, Yamashita MH, Jassal DS. Thrombosis of a mechanical mitral valve: a sticky situation. Eur Heart J. 2020 Mar 4. pii: ehaa126. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa126. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available

Stoppe C, Whitlock R, Arora RC, Heyland DK. Nutrition support in cardiac surgery patients: Be calm and feed on! J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2019 Oct;158(4):1103-1108. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2019.02.132. Epub 2019 May 7. No abstract available.

The SBH Foundation is planning to revisit last year’s Rose Soiree in support of the CSP (this June). Last year the funds were raised in support of the purchase of a new portable echo machine. The Foundation asked me to solicit suggestions from the CSP community for this year’s fundraising project. They are looking for us to identify equipment needs with a price tag in the ~$100k-200k range. Please let me know your ideas asap.

CSP in the News

It was a pretty busy week for coverage of CSP.
On Monday, an article on Women’s Heart Health research by CSP/ICS scientists (Todd Duhamel, Davinder Jassal and me) was highlighted in the Free Press. The PDF is attached.
Two of our Cardiology residents were interviewed on CTV News during our community talks at Wellness Institute. Phyllis Sin (PGY-4) was interviewed on Intermittent Fasting and Ketogenic Diet.
https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/ketogenic-dieting-intermittent-fasting-and-the-impacts-to-your-heart-health-1.4816143?cache=%2F5-things-to-know-for-friday-november-22-2019-1.4697438
Christopher Parr (PGY-5) was interviewed on the Effects of Cannabis on the Cardiovascular System. https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1908680

Shoutouts

Big congrats To Anita Soni and Clarence Khoo who were received awards for teaching from the Manitoba Medical Students Association:
-Anita Soni: Med I Award for Mentorship; Med II Award for Mentorship; Med II Award for Innovation; Med I Award for Inspiration
-Clarence Khoo: Med I Award for Innovation

Publications by our Faculty this Week

Yanagawa B, Graham MM, Afilalo J, Hassan A, Arora RC. Frailty as a risk predictor in cardiac surgery: Beyond the eyeball test. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2019 May;157(5):1905-1909. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2018.08.054. Epub 2018 Sep 5. No abstract available.

Xenogiannis I, Gkargkoulas F, Karmpaliotis D, Krestyaninov O, Khelimskii D, Jaffer FA, Khatri JJ, Kandzari DE, Wyman RM, Doing AH, Dattilo P, Toma C, Yeh RW, Tamez H, Choi JW, Jaber W, Samady H, Sheikh AM, Potluri S, Patel M, Mahmud E, Elbaruni B, Love MP, Koutouzis M, Tsiafoutis I, Jefferson BK, Patel T, Uretsky B, Moses JW, Lembo NJ, Parikh M, Kirtane AJ, Ali ZA, Hall AB, Megaly MS, Vemmou E, Nikolakopoulos I, Rangan BV, Morley PW, Bou Dargham B, Abdullah S, Garcia S, Banerjee S, Burke MN, Brilakis ES, Alaswad K. Retrograde Chronic Total Occlusion Percutaneous Coronary Intervention via Saphenous Vein Graft. JACC Cardiovasc Interv. 2020 Feb 24;13(4):517-526. doi: 10.1016/j.jcin.2019.10.028.

Many thanks to James Tam for the link and for the contribution.

This story from our neighbours down south remind us of the perils of putting our own interests and our own statistics ahead of those of our patients. Respect for autonomy remains an integral component of the care that we provide to our patients and their families

Shout Outs!

Congrats to Rakesh Arora who just received word he had been awarded a grant from the George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI) Fall 2019 Preparing for Research by Engaging Patient and Public Partners (PREPPP) Award for his application entitled “Expanding Enhanced Recover After Surgery (ERAS) guidelines for cardiac surgery”!

Publications by our Faculty this Week

Fast I, Villafranca A, Henrichs B, Magid K, Christodoulou C, Jacobsohn E. Disruptive behaviour in the operating room is under-reported: an international survey. Can J Anaesth. 2020 Feb;67(2):177-185. doi: 10.1007/s12630-019-01540-3. Epub 2020 Jan 16.

Yanagawa B, Adams C, Whitlock R, Arora RC. Why does infective endocarditis from injection drug use bite the tricuspid valve? Int J Cardiol. 2019 Nov 1;294:52. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2019.08.006. No abstract available.

Maguire D, Grocott HP. Glucose variability and adverse outcomes: mechanistic link or just epiphenomenon? Ann Thorac Surg. 2020 Jan 18. pii: S0003-4975(20)30034-5. doi: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2019.11.045. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available.

The results of the 2019 CSP Pilot Project Awards were just released. Five eligible applications were submitted of which 2 will receive funding ($30,000 apiece). Congrats to Ashish Shah and Mullein Thorensein for their application ST elevation myocardial infarction Hemodynamic OutCome study: Role of Non-Invasive Cardiac System (SHOCk-NICaS study) as well as Doug Maguire and Michael Raabe for their application The Effects of High Spinal Anesthesia on Delirium in Cardiac Surgical Patients!

CSP CA/PA Support Team. I would like to thank Thang Nguyen was has accepted a role as my Associate Medical Director for the CA/PA Program. He will be joining the team of Nancy, Chris and me in supporting the PAs and CAs of the CSP– especially related to their assignments and scheduling. Thanks so much Thang!

Shout Outs!

Big congrats to all of the members of the CSP’s Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) Network Leadership Team who were winners of the 2019 Health Innovation Award from Shared Health (picture from the awards ceremony above and link below) https://home.sharedhealthmb.ca/news/2019-12-10-congratulations-to-the-winners-of-the-2019-health-innovation-award-for-patient-centred-care/

Publications by our Faculty this Week

Bhullar SK, Shah AK, Dhalla NS. Store-operated calcium channels: Potential target for the therapy of hypertension. Rev Cardiovasc Med. 2019 Sep 30;20(3):139-151. doi: 10.31083/j.rcm.2019.03.522. Review.

Koleini N, Santiago JJ, Nickel BE, Sequiera GL, Wang J, Fandrich RR, Jassal DS, Dhingra S, Kirshenbaum LA, Cattini PA, Kardami E. Elimination or neutralization of endogenous high-molecular-weight FGF2 mitigates doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2019 Feb 1;316(2):H279-H288. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00587.2018. Epub 2018 Nov 9.

Le May M, Wells G, So D, Chong AY, Dick A, Froeschl M, Glover C, Hibbert B, Marquis JF, Blondeau M, Osborne C, MacDougall A, Kass M, Paddock V, Quraishi A, Labinaz M. Safety and Efficacy of Femoral Access vs Radial Access in ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction: The SAFARI-STEMI Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Cardiol. 2020 Jan 2. doi: 10.1001/jamacardio.2019.4852. [Epub ahead of print]

Dufresne J, Bowden P, Thavarajah T, Florentinus-Mefailoski A, Chen ZZ, Tucholska M, Norzin T, Ho MT, Phan M, Mohamed N, Ravandi A, Stanton E, Slutsky AS, Dos Santos CC, Romaschin A, Marshall JC, Addison C, Malone S, Heyland D, Scheltens P, Killestein J, Teunissen C, Diamandis EP, Siu KWM, Marshall JG. The plasma peptides of breast versus ovarian cancer. Clin Proteomics. 2019 Dec 23;16:43. doi: 10.1186/s12014-019-9262-0. eCollection 2019.

Stamenkovic A, Ganguly R, Aliani M, Ravandi A, Pierce GN. Overcoming the Bitter Taste of Oils Enriched in Fatty Acids to Obtain Their Effects on the Heart in Health and Disease. Overcoming the Bitter Taste of Oils Enriched in Fatty Acids to Obtain Their Effects on the Heart in Health and Disease. Nutrients. 2019 May 27;11(5). pii: E1179. doi: 10.3390/nu11051179. Review.

The results of the ISCHEMIA study presented yesterday at the AHA should reinforce our appreciation that atherosclerosis is a systemic disease– and the principal therapies should be systemic, not local (Medscape commentary link appended https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/921464?src=WNL_confalert_191117_MSCPEDIT&uac=308321MR&impID=2170388&faf=1). Thus, while we are often focused on identification of the optimal form of revascularization for patients with advanced coronary artery disease, my first impression of the ISCHEMIA results (much like the learnings from COURAGE study before it and similar to the evolution of our understanding of the lack of a role of revascularization for renal artery stenosis) is that that focus should, for many patients, remain with risk reduction. I look forward to further discussion as the details of this study become more widely available.

A few words about statistical support from CSP

The CSP has had a long tradition of ad hoc statistical support for a range of research projects across the community. This has been an important resource for many students and scientists. Our current local support (aka Brett) has been stretched by the increased demands by CSP as we transform towards a provincial mandate as well as his “double-duty roles” because of recent retirements/relocations. We are endeavoring to recapitulate that statistical support resource through the restructuring of the CHaRM program– on a “partial cost recovery basis”. However, currently we don’t have the capacity to handle statistical requests that we did.

In the interim, from what I understand, there are the following resources currently available at the University of Manitoba and elsewhere for statistical support on medical research projects. I am sure there are others, however these are the ones we are currently aware of:

The George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation provides fee-for-service support to various research projects, and have several trained biostatisticians available to work on a variety of medical research projects (both Basic Sciences and Clinical Research). https://chimb.ca/pages/6-data-science

In addition, the Department of Internal Medicine has a full time statistician available for use to the Cardiology section.

For projects initiated at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, they can also provide statistical support for all required analysis for a given project.

The Department of Statistics at the University of Manitoba also provide consultation services consulting@stats.umanitoba.ca

We are working at re-establishing a robust process for onsite statistical support. Thanks for your patience as we work through the details.

Shout Outs!

Happy Nurse Practitioners Week to all the NP’s within our program. Thank you for your dedication and hard work you put in daily to ensure our patients receive excellent care!

Please join us on Wednesday November 20, 2019 at 4:00 PM in the Sam Cohen Auditorium, Albrechtsen Research Centre for the Cardiac Sciences Program’s first monthly Visiting Professor Series Lecture for this academic year. This month’s guest is Dr. Raj Padwal. His talk will take place a 4:00 PM titled “Hypertension: The Forgotten Risk Factor” followed by a reception in the Atrium. Hope to see you there!

Publications by our Faculty this Week

Ma B, Allen DW, Graham MM, Har BJ, Tyrrell B, Tan Z, Spertus JA, Brown JR, Matheny ME, Hemmelgarn BR, Pannu N, James MT. Comparative Performance of Prediction Models for Contrast-Associated Acute Kidney Injury After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2019 Nov;12(11):e005854. doi: 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.119.005854. Epub 2019 Nov 14.

Kwok CS, Zieroth S, Van Spall HGC, Helliwell T, Clarson L, Mohamed M, Mallen C, Duckett S, Mamas MA. The Hospital Frailty Risk Score and its association with in-hospital mortality, cost, length of stay and discharge location in patients with heart failure short running title: Frailty and outcomes in heart failure. Int J Cardiol. 2019 Oct 9. pii: S0167-5273(19)32961-4. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2019.09.064. [Epub ahead of print]

Rizwan Manji gave a special presentation at HSC on Monday for Quality and Safety Week. To see his presentation, click on the link: https://media1.cc.umanitoba.ca/legacy/bann/med/quality_and_saftey_2019_10_28.mp4

Publications by our Faculty this Week

Abdel-Wahab M, Simonato M, Latib A, Goleski PJ, Allali A, Kaur J, Azadani AN, Horlick E, Testa L, Orvin K, Kornowski R, Kass M, Don CW, Richardt G, Webb JG, Dvir D. Clinical Valve Thrombosis After Transcatheter Aortic Valve-in-Valve Implantation.Circ Cardiovasc Interv. 2018 Nov;11(11):e006730. doi: 10.1161/CIRCINTERVENTIONS.118.006730.

Heinrichs J, Lodewyks C, Neilson C, Abou-Setta A, Grocott HP. The impact of hyperoxia on outcomes after cardiac surgery: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.Can J Anaesth. 2018 Aug;65(8):923-935. doi: 10.1007/s12630-018-1143-x. Epub 2018 May 2.

Congratulations x 2 to Chris Bzovey from Clinical Engineering i) for his award from the Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba and ii) his engagement to Nicole last weekend!

Congrats again to Colette Seifer and the Manitoba Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic team who were cited in this week’s WRHA Bulletin (link below) for their recognition by the region with a Health Innovation Award! http://wrha.mb.ca/healthinfo/news/2019/191022-clinic-offers-one-stop-shop-for-people-with-irregular-heart-rhythms.php

Publications by our Faculty this Week

Grocott HP. Additional concerns for the scavenging of anesthetic agents used for ICU sedation. J Clin Monit Comput. 2019 Aug;33(4):741. doi: 10.1007/s10877-018-0191-7. Epub 2018 Aug 1. No abstract available.

Callum J, Farkouh ME, Scales DC, Heddle NM, Crowther M, Rao V, Hucke HP, Carroll J, Grewal D, Brar S, Bussières J, Grocott H, Harle C, Pavenski K, Rochon A, Saha T, Shepherd L, Syed S, Tran D, Wong D, Zeller M, Karkouti K; FIBRES Research Group. Effect of Fibrinogen Concentrate vs Cryoprecipitate on Blood Component Transfusion After Cardiac Surgery: The FIBRES Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2019 Oct 21:1-11. doi: 10.1001/jama.2019.17312. [Epub ahead of print]

Andrade JG, Champagne J, Dubuc M, Deyell MW, Verma A, Macle L, Leong-Sit P, Novak P, Badra-Verdu M, Sapp J, Mangat I, Khoo C, Steinberg C, Bennett MT, Tang ASL, Khairy P; CIRCA-DOSE Study Investigators. Cryoballoon or Radiofrequency Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation Assessed by Continuous Monitoring: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Circulation. 2019 Oct 21. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.042622. [Epub ahead of print]

The Manitoba ACS Network led by John Ducas, Lorraine Avery and Team has been selected as one of three winning initiatives for the 2019 Health Innovation Award for Patient-Centered Care within Shared Health. Congratulations to all!

Publications by our Faculty this Week

Mackay D, Mollard RC, Granger M, Bruce S, Blewett H, Carlberg J, Duhamel T, Eck P, Faucher P, Hamm NC, Khafipour E, Lix L, McMillan D, Myrie S, Ravandi A, Tangri N, Azad M, Jones PJ. The Manitoba Personalized Lifestyle Research (TMPLR) study protocol: a multicentre bidirectional observational cohort study with administrative health record linkage investigating the interactions between lifestyle and health in Manitoba, Canada. BMJ Open. 2019 Oct 10;9(10):e023318. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023318.

Bhullar SK, Shah AK, Dhalla NS. Store-operated calcium channels: Potential target for the therapy of hypertension. Rev Cardiovasc Med. 2019 Sep 30;20(3):139-151. doi: 10.31083/j.rcm.2019.03.522.

Grocott HP. Lumbar Cerebrospinal Fluid Drains for Thoracic Endovascular Aneurysm Repair: Common Practice or Standard of Care? Anesthesiology. 2019 Feb;130(2):352. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0000000000002520. No abstract available.

Please join us this Wednesday October 16, 2019 at 4:00 PM in the Sam Cohen Auditorium, Albrechtsen Research Centre for the Cardiac Sciences Program’s monthly Visiting Professor Series Lecture, Dr. Madhav Swaminathan; “Perioperative echo: Unique challenges of the surgical environment”followed by a reception in the Atrium from 5-6 PM. Hope to see you there!

Shout Outs

Congratulations to Jamie Chalmers and her husband Mitchell on tying the knot!

Heart Attack Day 2019! Despite weather that predisposed to heart attacks (via snow shovelling) and the need for some ingenious networking that digitally brought together panelists stranded by the storm, the annual Heart Attack Day was an unmitigated success. Special congrats to Lorraine Avery and John Ducas for making it possible.

Publications by our Faculty this Week

Zelenitsky SA, Calic D, Arora RC, Grocott HP, Lakowski TM, Lillico R, Ariano RE. Antimicrobial Prophylaxis for Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: Intraoperative Cefazolin Concentrations and Sternal Wound Infections. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2018 Oct 24;62(11). pii: e01360-18. doi: 10.1128/AAC.01360-18. Print 2018 Nov.

Deschamps A, Saha T, El-Gabalawy R, Jacobsohn E, Overbeek C, Palermo J, Robichaud S, Dumont AA, Djaiani G, Carroll J, Kavosh MS, Tanzola R, Schmitt EM, Inouye SK, Oberhaus J, Mickle A, Ben Abdallah A, Avidan MS, Clinical Trials Group CPA. Protocol for the electroencephalography guidance of anesthesia to alleviate geriatric syndromes (ENGAGES-Canada) study: A pragmatic, randomized clinical trial.a> F1000Res. 2019 Jul 23;8:1165. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.19213.1. eCollection 2019.