Latest news with #HeartInstitute
CBC
19-07-2025
- Health
- CBC
Heat and your heart: Researchers warn of hidden risks
As Ottawa and the surrounding region emerges from an extended summer heat wave, heart researchers say all that sultry weather can cause cardiovascular damage you might not be aware of. The latest heat wave lasted nearly a week with temperatures in the low 30s. With the humidity factored in, some days felt above 40. "Heat makes your heart work really hard. It puts stress on it," said Katey Rayner, vice-president of research and chief scientific officer at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. "If you already have a heart condition, that just means it's an added layer of stress." She said exposure to high temperatures can make it difficult to maintain blood flow to certain organs, and can cause a person's blood pressure and heart rate to rise. "It may put [your heart rate] into a dangerous level," Rayner warned. "But instead of being in a hospital where we're monitoring, people are at home and they're trying to stay healthy and trying to sort of stay active, but they might be inadvertently causing strain and stress on the heart." Hot, sticky summers Because of Ottawa's location in a major river valley, summers in and around the capital tend to be hot and sticky. "And that just means humidity makes it really hard for your body to cool down," Rayner said. "Your body tries to sweat and get rid of its excess fluid and cool itself, and it does that through sweating — and it really can't do that effectively when there's basically a layer of fluid sitting on top of your body." Staying in the shade provides little relief because "that humidity is just sitting on top of you," she said. Researchers at the Heart Institute are working with climate scientists to better understand the link between hot weather and heart health. Rayner said it's a complex problem because not everyone has the resources to keep cool, putting them at higher risk. "It's really easy to tell people to just stay in air conditioning, [but] that's not actually feasible for a lot of people, particularly in disadvantaged communities," she explained. Effects can be cumulative Researchers have also found that the health effects of extreme heat can be cumulative. "When we are exposed to heat, there's a lot that's changing in terms of our body's physiology because we're always under stress," said Glen Kenny, director of the human environmental physiology research unit at the University of Ottawa. "That strain on the body can be the result of gradual loss of body water, so dehydration that essentially is just going to strain the heart even more." Kenny warned people who use fans instead of air conditioning to keep cool could be endangering their health, especially when the temperature tops 33 C. "[A fan] makes you feel cool, but it does not reduce the temperature that you experience or the strain on the heart, and for that reason you may not recognize the danger you're experiencing when using an a fan in an overheated home," he said. Along with such pre-existing health conditions as Type 2 diabetes, kidney or cardiovascular disease, one of the biggest risk factors is age. Kenny said our ability to sweat diminishes by about five per cent per decade, raising our core body temperature and increasing our risk of heat-related injury. Kenny and Rayner both recommend avoiding exercise in extreme heat because it forces our core temperature up faster.
CTV News
11-07-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Ukrainian doctor drives a child's heart through Russian attack to perform a life-saving transplant
Kyiv was burning as Dr. Borys Todurov sped through the city in an ambulance, undeterred by the deep thuds of explosions and the terrifying sounds of Russian drones flying overhead. He was determined to deliver his precious cargo: a human heart. Todurov's patient – a child – was seriously ill in a hospital. He had hours to act. The child has been living with a heart disease for several years, but her condition deteriorated earlier this week and Todurov knew a new heart was her only chance. So when one became available from a child donor on the opposite side of the city, he didn't wait for the Russians to stop attacking. Russia has ramped up its aerial attacks against Ukraine in recent weeks. It fired more than 400 drones and 18 missiles, including eight ballistic and six cruise missiles overnight into Thursday. As the Ukrainian authorities called on people to hide in bomb shelters and basements, Todurov and his staff made the 10-mile drive from the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in western Kyiv to the city's Heart Institute on the eastern bank of the river while missiles and drones were flying around. While the Ukrainian Air Force managed to shoot down or disable the vast majority of the drones and missiles, two people were killed and dozens more injured in the attack on Thursday. 'The heart is working' Thursday's mass attack on Kyiv was just the latest in a deadly string of Russian assaults. Just the day before, Moscow launched more than 700 drones – a new record – against Ukraine on a single night. Todurov, the director of the Heart Institute, and his team worked non-stop throughout the two nights of attacks. After performing a heart surgery at the institute on Wednesday, he traveled across the city to Okhmatdyt where he removed the heart from the body of the donor. He then personally escorted the organ across the city. Crossing the Dnipro by a bridge is extremely dangerous during an attack on Kyiv, because vehicles are exposed and Ukrainian air defences target Russian drones and missiles when they are above the river to minimise the impact from falling debris. A video taken during the frantic drive shows a large fire burning near the road as Todurov drives on. 'We're carrying a heart,' he says calmly. The Russian attack on the capital was still underway when Todurov got into the operating theater at the Heart Institute, heading a large medical team and transplanting the heart into the body of his patient. In a stunning moment captured on camera and shared with CNN, the new heart is seen beating inside the patient's chest, just hours after it was driven through Kyiv as Russian drones and missiles rained down on the city. 'The heart is working, and the pressure is stable. We hope that … (the patient) will recover and live a long and full life,' the doctor said. The Ukrainian Transplant Coordination Centre said in a statement that the donor was a four-year-old girl who was declared brain-dead by a medical council after suffering serious injuries. The girl's mother, herself a medical worker, agreed to have her daughter's organs donated. And so, just as Todurov was transplanting the girl's heart into his patient's body at the Heart Institute, her kidneys were being transplanted to a 14-year-old boy and her liver to a 16-year-old girl, the center said. The two other patients were at the Okhmatdyt hospital, so no transport was required to get the organs to them. The coordination center said that two of the three recipients were in critical condition and had they not received the transplants, they would have just days or weeks to live. 'May the little donor rest in peace. Our condolences to her family and gratitude for their difficult but important decision,' the center said.
CNN
11-07-2025
- Health
- CNN
Ukrainian doctor drives a child's heart through Russian attack to perform a life-saving transplant
Kyiv was burning as Dr. Borys Todurov sped through the city in an ambulance, undeterred by the deep thuds of explosions and the terrifying sounds of Russian drones flying overhead. He was determined to deliver his precious cargo: a human heart. Todurov's patient – a child – was seriously ill in a hospital. He had hours to act. The child has been living with a heart disease for several years, but her condition deteriorated earlier this week and Todurov knew a new heart was her only chance. So when one became available from a child donor on the opposite side of the city, he didn't wait for the Russians to stop attacking. Russia has ramped up its aerial attacks against Ukraine in recent weeks. It fired more than 400 drones and 18 missiles, including eight ballistic and six cruise missiles overnight into Thursday. As the Ukrainian authorities called on people to hide in bomb shelters and basements, Todurov and his staff made the 10-mile drive from the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in western Kyiv to the city's Heart Institute on the eastern bank of the river while missiles and drones were flying around. While the Ukrainian Air Force managed to shoot down or disable the vast majority of the drones and missiles, two people were killed and dozens more injured in the attack on Thursday. Thursday's mass attack on Kyiv was just the latest in a deadly string of Russian assaults. Just the day before, Moscow launched more than 700 drones – a new record – against Ukraine on a single night. Todurov, the director of the Heart Institute, and his team worked non-stop throughout the two nights of attacks. After performing a heart surgery at the institute on Wednesday, he traveled across the city to Okhmatdyt where he removed the heart from the body of the donor. He then personally escorted the organ across the city. Crossing the Dnipro by a bridge is extremely dangerous during an attack on Kyiv, because vehicles are exposed and Ukrainian air defences target Russian drones and missiles when they are above the river to minimise the impact from falling debris. A video taken during the frantic drive shows a large fire burning near the road as Todurov drives on. 'We're carrying a heart,' he says calmly. The Russian attack on the capital was still underway when Todurov got into the operating theater at the Heart Institute, heading a large medical team and transplanting the heart into the body of his patient. In a stunning moment captured on camera and shared with CNN, the new heart is seen beating inside the patient's chest, just hours after it was driven through Kyiv as Russian drones and missiles rained down on the city. 'The heart is working, and the pressure is stable. We hope that … (the patient) will recover and live a long and full life,' the doctor said. The Ukrainian Transplant Coordination Centre said in a statement that the donor was a four-year-old girl who was declared brain-dead by a medical council after suffering serious injuries. The girl's mother, herself a medical worker, agreed to have her daughter's organs donated. And so, just as Todurov was transplanting the girl's heart into his patient's body at the Heart Institute, her kidneys were being transplanted to a 14-year-old boy and her liver to a 16-year-old girl, the center said. The two other patients were at the Okhmatdyt hospital, so no transport was required to get the organs to them. The coordination center said that two of the three recipients were in critical condition and had they not received the transplants, they would have just days or weeks to live. 'May the little donor rest in peace. Our condolences to her family and gratitude for their difficult but important decision,' the center said.
CNN
11-07-2025
- Health
- CNN
Ukrainian doctor drives a child's heart through Russian attack to perform a life-saving transplant
Kyiv was burning as Dr. Borys Todurov sped through the city in an ambulance, undeterred by the deep thuds of explosions and the terrifying sounds of Russian drones flying overhead. He was determined to deliver his precious cargo: a human heart. Todurov's patient – a child – was seriously ill in a hospital. He had hours to act. The child has been living with a heart disease for several years, but her condition deteriorated earlier this week and Todurov knew a new heart was her only chance. So when one became available from a child donor on the opposite side of the city, he didn't wait for the Russians to stop attacking. Russia has ramped up its aerial attacks against Ukraine in recent weeks. It fired more than 400 drones and 18 missiles, including eight ballistic and six cruise missiles overnight into Thursday. As the Ukrainian authorities called on people to hide in bomb shelters and basements, Todurov and his staff made the 10-mile drive from the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in western Kyiv to the city's Heart Institute on the eastern bank of the river while missiles and drones were flying around. While the Ukrainian Air Force managed to shoot down or disable the vast majority of the drones and missiles, two people were killed and dozens more injured in the attack on Thursday. Thursday's mass attack on Kyiv was just the latest in a deadly string of Russian assaults. Just the day before, Moscow launched more than 700 drones – a new record – against Ukraine on a single night. Todurov, the director of the Heart Institute, and his team worked non-stop throughout the two nights of attacks. After performing a heart surgery at the institute on Wednesday, he traveled across the city to Okhmatdyt where he removed the heart from the body of the donor. He then personally escorted the organ across the city. Crossing the Dnipro by a bridge is extremely dangerous during an attack on Kyiv, because vehicles are exposed and Ukrainian air defences target Russian drones and missiles when they are above the river to minimise the impact from falling debris. A video taken during the frantic drive shows a large fire burning near the road as Todurov drives on. 'We're carrying a heart,' he says calmly. The Russian attack on the capital was still underway when Todurov got into the operating theater at the Heart Institute, heading a large medical team and transplanting the heart into the body of his patient. In a stunning moment captured on camera and shared with CNN, the new heart is seen beating inside the patient's chest, just hours after it was driven through Kyiv as Russian drones and missiles rained down on the city. 'The heart is working, and the pressure is stable. We hope that … (the patient) will recover and live a long and full life,' the doctor said. The Ukrainian Transplant Coordination Centre said in a statement that the donor was a four-year-old girl who was declared brain-dead by a medical council after suffering serious injuries. The girl's mother, herself a medical worker, agreed to have her daughter's organs donated. And so, just as Todurov was transplanting the girl's heart into his patient's body at the Heart Institute, her kidneys were being transplanted to a 14-year-old boy and her liver to a 16-year-old girl, the center said. The two other patients were at the Okhmatdyt hospital, so no transport was required to get the organs to them. The coordination center said that two of the three recipients were in critical condition and had they not received the transplants, they would have just days or weeks to live. 'May the little donor rest in peace. Our condolences to her family and gratitude for their difficult but important decision,' the center said.
CTV News
16-06-2025
- Health
- CTV News
How a churro-inspired device could change bypass surgery
How a churro-inspired device could change bypass surgery A researcher from University of Ottawa Heart Institute took inspiration from a food truck when he was thinking of ways to make bypass surgery safer.
