Canada's first cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) centre Discovery of a genetic mutation that causes one of the most common forms of heart disease—atrial fibrillation Identification of the first single-nucleotide polymorphism that increases susceptibility to heart disease regardless of other established risk factors A one-of-a-kind Canadian home tele-health monitoring program that cuts hospital readmission by 54 percent for heart failure patients A first multi-faceted Women's Heart Health Centre that will focus its programs on prevention and management services for women at risk of and diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. Clinical specialties UOHI maintains a clinical staff of over 700, including physicians, nurses, technicians, and other health professionals. In addition to standard care, approximately 100 clinical trials are underway at the institute at any time. Cardiac anesthesiology More than 1,900 open-heart procedures at UOHI each year require anesthesia, including coronary artery bypass, valve replacement, heart transplant, pulmonary thromboendarterectomy, mechanical circulatory assist devices and others. Clinical anesthesia is also provided for a growing number and variety of pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, percutaneous aortic valve, and arrhythmia procedures. Cardiac imaging UOHI is a national centre for cardiac imaging. The institute employs all standard imaging modalities and evaluates experimental techniques and applications. UOHI also has the rare capability to develop and produce novel, short-lived nuclear tracers on site. The on-site cyclotron lets the institute produce many of its own medical isotopes, particularly for PET imaging. UOHI’s Nuclear Cardiology Program is the largest such clinical program in Canada. Cardiac surgery UOHI's cardiac surgeons perform more than 1,900 open-heart procedures annually, and the institute is known for its reconstructive heart-valve surgery program. Dr. Marc Ruel is the Chief of Cardiac Surgery. It has among the lowest mortality rates and largest patient volumes in North America, especially for high-risk patients. Surgical specialties include: Heart valve repair Percutaneous aortic valve replacement Multi-vessel small thoracotomy Heart transplantation Mechanical assist devices Thoracoscopic surgical ablation Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy The Heart Institute is the provincial centre for pulmonary thromboendarterectomy. Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation The Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation program focuses its efforts in five areas: cardiac rehabilitation, the Prevention & Wellness Centre (for patient and public education), the Champlain Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Network, the Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation (implemented in more than 200 medical institutions across Canada), and behavioral and risk modification research. Cardiology Approximately 50,000 patients a year visit UOHI’s cardiology clinics for testing and treatment of heart disorders. The Cardiology program