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and pioneering – ethos extend to 02 can be used to transplant into 01 Dr. Vivek Rao (centre),
its nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, patients. cardiac surgeon,
occupational therapists, ours to go to our benefactors and is an international
physiotherapists and more, says launch an investigation into the Dr. Badiwala thinks that expert in mechanical
Lindsay Love, 31, an Advanced efficacy and safety of a certain someday ex-vivo and artificial heart technology.
Practice Nurse Educator in the technique or procedure or device,” hearts could be used temporarily
Coronary Intensive Care Unit he explains. The PMCC has done while a patient’s defective heart is 02 Tubes carrying
(CICU). that on a number of occasions, removed, repaired and then sewn blood to and from the
for example, in groundbreaking back in. “That’s thinking into the heart-lung machine
The emphasis on research research on minimally-invasive future, but it might not be so far keep patients alive
and record of world “firsts” procedures to replace aortic away.” during bypass surgery.
there fosters a spirit of curiosity valves. “There are also times
among nurses and a “desire when we evaluate technology, In other advances, PMCC 03 One area of focus
to keep learning,” she says. and we don’t recommend going is launching a program in for cardiac surgeon,
Indeed, each year nurses from forward with it.” surgery for arrhythmia using a Dr. Mitesh Badiwala
PMCC have been awarded minimally-invasive approach (immediate left), is
prestigious fellowships under There have been tremendous where a videoscope can be reviving “dead” hearts
the Collaborative Academic advances in artificial hearts inserted through a small hole in so that they can be used
Practice Innovation and Research from the first such device he the side of the chest. This way, the 03 for a future transplant.
Fellowship Program offered by introduced in 2001, called the “tracks” inside and outside of the
the University Health Network HeartMate I, which was “huge” heart that cause arrhythmia can therapies are increasingly
(UHN). Ms. Love says that and designed to last only 18 be ablated or burned. blurred. “If you’re doing
through the six-month pay- months. Some nine different minimally- invasive surgery, are
protected positions, nurses “are versions followed; Dr. Rao is now Advanced imaging is you an interventional cardiologist
leading innovation themselves.” doing the first Canadian clinical particularly helpful to surgeons or are you a minimally-invasive
trial of the HeartMate III. using minimally-invasive heart surgeon?” he asks. “We’re
Dr. Rao focuses on heart techniques. Dr. Rao expects that going to be trained in doing both,
failure, the inability of the The pumps, now implanted soon with just the tiniest incision, with teams that focus on heart
heart to effectively pump blood alongside the patient’s own a perfect life-sized or magnified failure, teams that focus on valve
throughout the body. Improving heart, are ever-smaller and more image of the beating heart will be disease and teams that focus on
the survival and the quality of life durable. But they’re still powered projected holographically outside aortic disease. That’s how the
of heart failure patients through by large external batteries, of the body to guide surgeons patient gets the best care.”
new technologies, processes and which have to be charged twice using microscopic instruments
strategies is a key focus of the a day and cannot get wet, he inside. He’s currently involved in
new Ted Rogers Centre for Heart says. “Clearly, what patients clinical research, evaluating
Research, he stresses. This can and surgeons want is to make He says it may also be possible new surgical technologies and
include artificial hearts, state- everything implantable.” to do surgery with no incision of procedures, “so can we do the
of-the-art medications, ways any kind, akin to the way Star same thing, but do it better,” and
to monitor patients wirelessly Making a heart that is not Trek chief medical officer Dr. he has a basic science laboratory
and Web portals that provide beating at all viable for transplant Leonard McCoy used a focused where PhD and master’s students
education to them, as well as is the focus of cardiac surgeon beam of energy to sew off a vessel are trained to do molecular
to families and health-care Mitesh Badiwala, 37, one of or cut out a lesion. “Certainly, the biology research, looking into the
providers. PMCC’s newest recruits. Dr. technology exists where you can effect of transplants on the heart
Badiwala, surgical director of the focus a laser internally and not and blood vessels.
The PMCC’s model of evaluating heart transplant program, says make any puncture on the skin,
new technology through the use of such “ex-vivo” hearts and if something’s bleeding we While transplantation remains
philanthropy is critical, says Dr. would “increase the donor pool” can stop it from bleeding. We “the well-accepted gold standard,”
Rao, who launched the centre’s beyond those who are brain-dead can probably also burn vessels he sees artificial hearts as the
artificial heart program in 2001, to include “donation after cardiac or burn tracks that are causing way of the future. “We’re going to
gathering data to show the death.” The hearts are removed, arrhythmias.” see a patient with heart failure,
Ontario Ministry of Health and resuscitated, reanimated and and we’re going to say: ‘Do you
Long-Term Care that outcomes then evaluated to see if they He notes that lines in heart want to go on the waiting list for
with mechanical heart pumps a transplant – which you may
were good enough to offer or may not get within the next
the technology to Ontarians. year or two – or do you want to
Limited government funding schedule your surgery for next
is now available for mechanical Tuesday, and we’ll put in an
heart pumps in the transplant artificial heart, and you’ll have a
population. normal life expectancy?’”
Dr. Rao says there is still an Dr. Rao has won numerous
“unmet need” for mechanical awards for his dedication to
hearts in the many patients who finding answers in such areas.
are not transplant candidates. He says he would have never
Today, philanthropic money is dreamed 30 years ago that he
supporting four to five artificial would be leading the Canadian
heart transplants a year in these research on each new generation
non-transplant patients to of artificial hearts, as Dr. Mark
show whether outcomes justify Craig did on St. Elsewhere. “I am
financing the program. living the dream, so to speak.”
“It’s incumbent on centres like
42 Peter Munk Cardiac Centre
