The MUHC Foundation's Health Matters

Best of Health Matters: Healing patients & fixing broken hearts

August 14, 2022 The McGill University Health Centre Foundation Season 2 Episode 45
The MUHC Foundation's Health Matters
Best of Health Matters: Healing patients & fixing broken hearts
Show Notes Transcript

This week on a special edition of Health Matters, Tarah Schwartz revisits conversations about how the MUHC Foundation is working to Fix Broken Hearts. Hugo Perrin shares how he discovered a serious heart condition on his 18th birthday and how the experience inspired him to fundraise for the MUHC Foundation. Dr. Jacqueline Joza explains the advances being made in cardiac electrophysiology. Dr. Louise Pilote discusses research into women’s heart health. And, the Courtois Cardiovascular Signature Program helps you better understand your heart health and advance research.

Cette semaine, dans une édition spéciale de Question de santé, Tarah Schwartz revient sur ses conversations qui mettent en valeur le travail de la Fondation du CUSM pour souder les cœurs brisés. Hugo Perrin racontera comment il a découvert son grave problème cardiaque le jour de son 18e anniversaire, et comment cette expérience l’a inspiré à collecter des fonds pour la Fondation du CUSM. La Dre Jacqueline Joza parlera aussi des progrès réalisés en électrophysiologie cardiaque. La Dre Louise Pilote discutera des recherches sur la santé cardiaque des femmes. Et enfin, nous replongerons dans le Programme Courtois des signatures cardiovasculaires pour mieux comprendre votre santé cardiaque et faire progresser la recherche.

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Tarah Schwartz:

Hello, thank you for joining us. I'm Tarah Schwartz and this is a special best of edition of Health Matters on CJAD 800. On today's show, we revisit conversations about the heart. From patient stories to advances in cardiac care and research, you'll discover how the MUHC Foundation is working to fix broken hearts. Hugo Perrin knows all too well how a heart condition can impact an entire life. Hugo is a cardiac patient at the MUHC. His life changed completely on his 18th birthday. Hugo joins me now to share his story. Thank you for being here, Hugo.

Hugo Perrin:

Hey, Tarah!

Tarah Schwartz:

Nice to talk to you. So when you were growing up, did you have any indication that you had heart issues?

Hugo Perrin:

To be honest, I didn't know at this time that I had heart disease. The thing is that I remember a few events. One, when I used to play hockey, I was sitting on the bench after a long shift and my heart was racing really fast. And I was asking myself what was going on. That was a heck of a shift. And a couple years after I realized that this special event was related to the type of arrhythmia I have and that's something that I can talk about later.

Tarah Schwartz:

Okay, so you never noticed anything other

Hugo Perrin:

Never.

Tarah Schwartz:

Let's talk about the night of your 18th birthday. than a rapid heartbeat; your heart was going really fast. But there was nothing that you ever brought up to your doctor as you were growing up? You're out with friends and tell us what happened that night.

Hugo Perrin:

Oh that night. You know your 18th birthday is supposed to be a special night for you. I was in a bar with a couple of friends and at midnight. For some reason, after a shot my heart just started racing really, really quickly. I thought that maybe I was a bit tired or something. After an hour, my heartbeat had no drop at this time. I was kind of worried. I didn't know at this point, but a friend of mine called an ambulance.

Tarah Schwartz:

I want to ask you about that hour, Hugo. So the hour that you were spending with the heart racing, what did that feel like? Were you just sitting down? Did you feel incapacitated like you couldn't move? What did it feel like?

Hugo Perrin:

I was sitting down. And the feeling is like if Someone had called an ambulance. Were you worried? Were you you're sprinting, but for an hour. The breathing is not the same so you don't breathe heavily. But the heart is scared? How were you feeling? racing, the same as when you're sprinting. The thing is that your level of energy is also going down just like it does when you're sprinting. So that's a big issue. After an hour, picture yourself sprinting for the whole hour- you wouldn't be able to do it right. So while you're living the same thing, At this point when they told me the ambulance was there, I but sitting down watching your friends having fun. At this point, I knew that something was not going well but I didn't know that the ambulance was coming. didn't know they called it. So I was laying on the bench in a bar and I was trying to slow down my heart. I was doing breathing exercises and stuff like that. But it didn't work. So they had to put me on a stretcher and then they put me in the ambulance. And that was really scary for me.

Tarah Schwartz:

Wow, we're talking to Hugo Perrin who knows all too well about heart condition. He, on his 18th birthday as you just heard, found out that he has a condition called tachycardia. Which is when the heart beats incredibly fast and doesn't stop or slow down. So when you got to the hospital and you met the cardiology team, and you've had several procedures since that day, tell us a little bit about those.

Hugo Perrin:

On this night, they had to give me a medication that would kind of stop my heart and then started again, just it's like a hard reset.

Tarah Schwartz:

Like they literally had to stop it. They stopped your heart and started it again.

Hugo Perrin:

Yeah, that's the medication they gave me. Afterwards and the doctor told me that I have TSVP So it's a kind of tachycardia. And I had to undergo a certain procedure to fix it.

Tarah Schwartz:

So you've had several procedures since that time, haven't you?

Hugo Perrin:

Yeah, twice.

Tarah Schwartz:

And is it fairly non-invasive, is it a fairly simple procedure? Or is it complicated?

Hugo Perrin:

That's the thing that is really impressive regarding that kind of procedure. It's not even called a surgery. It's a procedure. So, when Dr. Essebag, my cardiologist told me that to undergo a certain procedure, I thought that he would just open my heart and start doing stuff inside my heart. And he said, no, it's a non-invasive one. He basically puts three wires inside you; by your groin, and it goes into your heart. And then he's able - I'm not a physician, so it's not medical advice, but he's able to do an ablation on the electrical problem you have in your heart.

Tarah Schwartz:

So how are you managing your heart condition now? You're 28 years old, it's been 10 years. How are you managing it, dealing with it, talking about it?

Hugo Perrin:

It's really crazy, because I remember when I was 18. After the event, I started having tachycardia every single day. So that was really a problem for my lifestyle. Every day, even when I was supposed to go to work or stuff like that, I could have that kind of event. That created a lot of anxiety for me. But right now, after two procedures, I feel a lot better. I have a couple other things to fix. But so far, it's a lot better than it used to be. And I'm doing super well.

Tarah Schwartz:

I'm curious about how your friends and family react when you tell them that you have a heart condition. For all intents and purposes, you're a young healthy, man. Are they surprised? Are they shocked when you tell them that you have this condition?

Hugo Perrin:

When you ask the question, it was sort of like answering it. You always think that people with a heart condition would be above 50 years-old. And a 28-year-old guy should not have a heart condition. But I do. Everyone's always surprised, but I tell them that it's under control. With the new technology of the EP lab, and the electrophysiology technology, I'm able to have a normal life and can do all the activities I'm I should be doing at 28.

Tarah Schwartz:

Well, you're talking to Hugo Perrin, who is a cardiac patient at the MUHC. Do you know of any other young people who have heart conditions like you?

Hugo Perrin:

Yes, a friend of mine has the same heart condition, tachycardia. However, with him it was every day so his pace was always really high. So it's not the exact same tachycardia me was the punctual event.

Tarah Schwartz:

When you said you feel very connected to you've mentioned him Dr. Essebag, who is a cardiologist at the MUHC and his team. What are you raising money for? You decided to jump into philanthropy. I love the term microphilanthropist, which is what I feel you are. You were moved by something by a team, by a doctor and now you want to jump into the philanthropy ring and start raising money. Why are you doing it?

Hugo Perrin:

The last time I went to the to the hospital to meet my cardiologist for the annual appointment, I told him that I wanted to be involved in a cause. Finding the right cause for you can be kind of tricky and hard because we have different values and we have different visions of life. As a citizen or an entrepreneur or a young man, I wanted to do something and give back to society. It took me a couple of years to find the right cause. But at one point, I realized that the team of Dr. Essebag saved my life. So I wanted to dedicate a part of my life to this team. And that's when I asked him if I could join the MUHC Foundation and after a couple phone calls, here I am today talking to you.

Tarah Schwartz:

So tell us what you're raising money for.

Hugo Perrin:

The foundation is trying to create a new EP lab or an electrophysiology lab to be able to do the same procedure that I received in the past twice. Right now, the number of EP labs in the province of Quebec are not that high. There's a big limitation on the number of procedures they can do. Creating a new one will allow more people to have the same surgery done.

Tarah Schwartz:

What would you want people to know about supporting and giving back working with the MUHC foundation? It's wonderful to work with people like you who are committed because you have felt it you have been there. What would you like people to know about that kind of fundraising drive?

Hugo Perrin:

First of all, the team is just amazing. They're all moving the same direction. Also, you have to understand that it will change lives and the quality of life of patients that will undergo that kind of procedure. I'm the living example of that. The procedure changed my life, I would have tachycardia every day and like I said, I think your heartbeat pumping at 180 BPM, you cannot live like that. It's really stressful, and it can be really life threatening. Absolutely, it is a great cause and you will change lives.

Tarah Schwartz:

Hugo Perrin, I thank you so much for joining us on Health Matters and for sharing your story.

Hugo Perrin:

Thanks, Tarah. Thanks for the opportunity. And I'm so glad right now.

Tarah Schwartz:

Next up on Health Matters, how quickly are heart procedures changing and does it make recovery easier? I'm Tarah Schwartz. Welcome back to a special best of edition of Health Matters on CJAD 800. Every seven minutes, a Canadian dies of heart or vascular disease. That's 70,000 Canadians every year or one quarter of all deaths. The McGill University Health Centers cardiology team is working so that in 10 years, Montreal will have the lowest rate of hospitalization and fewest deaths due to heart disease in Canada. Dr. Jacqueline Joza is part of our dedicated cardiology team at the MUHC, she is a cardiac electrophysiologist. Thank you so much for joining us, Dr. Joza.

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

Thank you for the invitation.

Tarah Schwartz:

So let's begin with this. Do you think the average person knows enough about their own heart health?

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

Well, that's an excellent question.

Tarah Schwartz:

What do you advise people when you're Given the increased access to online resources, and an overall willingness to learn about one's health, we certainly have seen an increased wish to live healthier, and a better understanding overall of our bodies. However, it's still easy to be fooled by misconceptions. One of the biggest misconceptions that I always hear is Oh, heart disease runs in my family, there's nothing I can do to prevent it. And with that, although people with a family history of heart disease are definitely at higher risk. You can take steps to dramatically reduce the risk. We have actually a Family Heart Center, just for an evaluation of these patients where we can assess whether you do have a genetic predisposition to higher cholesterol. Other misconceptions are things such as high blood pressure, it's often called the silent killer, because you don't really know that you have it. You may never experience any symptoms. But it's really easy to check a blood pressure, whether you're in the pharmacy, or buy a blood pressure machine for yourself, so you can check it at your home every so often. talking about encouraging them to take better care of their hearts?

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

I think it's really just to focus on living well, living healthily, and taking care of yourself. Making sure that you're seeing your doctor that you're following up on blood pressure, that you're following up on cholesterol tests that you don't ignore any symptoms. Exercise as much as you can, stay away from sugars. That's probably the best thing that you can do for yourself.

Tarah Schwartz:

Is there one particular heart condition that is more common than others?

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

That's a very good point. I mean, high cholesterol is certainly very common. We do recommend that anybody over the age of 40 should start to have their cholesterol checked on an on a yearly basis or even earlier if you do have a risk factor, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. That's very important to check, your cholesterol. The other important area to look into is the high blood pressure. It is such a silent killer, and I really want to emphasize that we can actually do something for high blood pressure. The long term risks with not treating high blood pressure include stroke, heart attack, heart failure, reduced quality of life. It's a simple thing that we can treat. It's very common, and something that everybody should look into.

Tarah Schwartz:

Just have to stay on top of it. That's right. We are speaking with Dr. Jacqueline Joza, who is part of our dedicated cardiology team at the MUHC. She is a cardiac electrophysiologist and we are talking about heart health. Can you take us behind the scenes and tell us what it's like to work as a cardiac electrophysiologist? What is your average day look like?

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

As an electrophysiologist, we specialize in the arrhythmias of the heart, so any abnormal slow or fast rhythms. So sometimes some days we're in the clinic, we see patients who may have had pacemakers or defibrillators implanted, we see them in follow up every six or 12 months or so to ensure that their devices working well. We also do that remotely. So on remote monitoring, we ensure that the device is not reading any abnormal rhythms and that it is working correctly. And then we also see patients with general electrical problems to determine whether an ablation- a procedure where we insert catheters inside the heart is appropriate for that patient or whether the patient needs a device like a pacemaker or defibrillator. But most days, we're actually in the electrophysiology lab, which is a room where we actually perform procedures. The simplest procedure we might perform is for somebody, for instance, who loses consciousness. And we need to determine if there's an electrical cause for that loss of consciousness. In that circumstance, we would do what we call an electrophysiology study. It's one of the simplest procedures we do, it's where we insert catheters inside the vein in the groin, we pass them up into the hearts, we tickle the heart and try and elicit arrhythmias that may have caused the loss of consciousness. We also assess the electrical system inside the heart to determine whether it's functioning properly. And then we take it from there. So that's what our day looks like. We do several procedures a day. Some patients required simple sedation, some patients require intubation- a tube is put into the mouth for the duration of the procedure. And yes, we're doing many...

Tarah Schwartz:

You're busy.

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

Yeah, we're quite busy.

Tarah Schwartz:

You talk about doing procedures remotely or monitoring remotely. You talk about procedures, that are considerably less invasive. So I imagine that this technology used in cardiac care procedures has evolved considerably.

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

It's really advancing at a remarkable rate. With this new types of technology, we're really able to individualize therapy for patients to make them feel better at more minimal risk. For instance, we have special devices now that we can help to improve heart failure or strengthen a weakened heart in a patient who might have electrical disease, we're able to...

Tarah Schwartz:

You can strengthen a weakened heart?

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

That's right.

Tarah Schwartz:

How would you do that?

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

It's actually quite incredible. It's really satisfying as a doctor to see patients improve with this technology. When we implant this special type of device, we put wires into the hearts that work in such a manner to re-synchronize or re-energize the heart through electrical signals. A patient who has heart failure or heart weakness, at least partially due to an electrical abnormality, once we correct that electrical abnormality by placing the wires in certain locations. We can actually improve the heart function. So patients feel less short of breath, they have improved quality of life, there's a decreased risk of mortality as well, that's quite significant.

Tarah Schwartz:

We were speaking with Dr. Jacqueline Joza, who's a cardiac electrophysiologist. I know it sounds like I'm saying this on a spiritual level, but the heart it sounds like is able to take a lot. Is that true? You're talking about putting wires, electrodes, doing all kinds of procedures. Is the heart like that kind of muscle that can just take a lot, if you're trying to heal it and help it?

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

Yes, certainly, the heart is. It depends really, what the initial disease at the outset is. I think that everybody has a different disease at the outset. So there may be certain things that we can do to make them better. But there's many different parts of the heart. We're just talking about the electrical system. But we also have to also recognize that there's also things like valve problems that can be actually fixed now, interventionally; without the need to do open heart surgery.

Tarah Schwartz:

Which is incredible, because we all sort of have this image of open heart surgery. How we used to see it in movies, where they have to, like crack the chest and crack the ribs, they don't need to do that anymore, right?

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

It depends in certain patient populations; we can do this interventional. And so that's where both cardiologists and cardiac surgeons are involved in that procedure. And then there's also coronary disease of blocked arteries that can be opened with special techniques where the technology has improved immensely as well.

Tarah Schwartz:

It's really incredible to hear how things have changed so much. How does philanthropy help the MUHC keep up with all of the changes that are happening in cardiology?

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

I have to say that we've never needed your efforts more. Heart attack strokes, all these related conditions claimed the life of a person in Canada every few minutes. By fundraising and philanthropy, we can actually bring hope to really achieve these goals that you stated at the outset of this interview. I think that there is hope going forward. And I think with our team here at McGill University, I think we're achieving immense and remarkable achievements. I think we can only move forward from here. So any help obviously, it's important and almost necessary for us to keep going.

Tarah Schwartz:

What do you see the biggest changes being in the next few years in your field?

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

I think we're going to be seeing more remote kind of monitoring. Given this pandemic over the last year or two. We've seen incredible improvements in technology and heart failure in types of special types of devices, mechanical devices that can kind of help the heart from a mechanical standpoint. They are able to implant the device that instead of doing a heart transplant, they can implant device that can help the heart function by pumping more efficiently and we're probably see a lot more of that coming soon.

Tarah Schwartz:

Always so enlightening to talk with you, Dr. Joza. Thank you so much for joining us on Health Matters.

Dr. Jacqueline Joza:

You're so welcome. Thanks very much again for inviting me.

Tarah Schwartz:

Coming up, how has the pandemic impacted how women and men take care of their hearts? Welcome back to a special best edition of Health Matters where we revisit conversations about the advances in cardiology, and research. We are lucky in Montreal to have doctors and researchers who are recognized internationally for being leaders in their fields. Dr. Louise Pilote is one of those researchers for her research into sex, gender and cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Pilote is a senior scientist and has recently been appointed as Deputy Director of the Research Institute of the MUHC. Thank you so much for joining us, Dr. Pilote.

Dr. Louise Pilote:

You're welcome.

Tarah Schwartz:

Let's begin with how you started your career into medical research.

Dr. Louise Pilote:

Well, I was inspired, in fact, by a patient I saw many years ago when I was a resident. It's been like that throughout my career- we see patients, we have questions, we look at the literature and they're not answered. So then we go on and do a research project. So that patient was a patient who had had a heart attack and the function of his heart was really reduced. He was young. I was waiting for him and I was concerned, thinking poor guy, he's he has a bad heart. And he showed up in a yellow hat. He was a construction worker with the cap and boots. And he was in great shape. So my first research project was to try to understand why some people with poor heart function have a good physical function and whether other people with poor heart function have a poor physical function. This is how I started my research career because I was able to answer a question that had come up during my clinical practice.

Tarah Schwartz:

And were you able to answer that question, in the end, after your research, did you figure the answer out?

Dr. Louise Pilote:

Yes, we understood that it's not just the heart, but it's all the blood vessel function around the heart, and the ability of the muscle to squeeze the vein to bring the blood back to the heart. So there's a lot around the heart that helped the whole cardiovascular function. And it was one of my first publication in a very prominent journal called Circulation. That gave me a lot of positive feedback to answer a question, and then be able to disseminate the findings.

Tarah Schwartz:

Very interesting. That's a great starter story. I think most people know how generally, health issues can affect men and women differently. But how significant is it to find out more specifics about this, how it affects the genders differently?

Dr. Louise Pilote:

Well, it's interesting that I started by telling you how I found my research, my love for research and observation in clinical practice. In fact, I started my interest in sex differences by being exposed to a patient, a young woman. In fact, she was 34, she came to my clinic because she had hypertension and diabetes. And when I spoke to her, she had depression. She said, I had a heart attack, and I was so depressed and so afraid to die, and leave my two young kids behind that I didn't leave home, and I just gained weight. As a result, I developed hypertension and diabetes. So it led to the question, why does a young woman should be protected with hormonal levels- why should she develop heart disease at a young age? Understanding sex differences is very important. It has led, in my experience, to better science, better treatment, and as a result, better health for both men and women. Let me give you an example for better science. By looking at coronary disease and the differences between men and women. By separating, for example, how people present, we understand the symptoms better. So a woman who develops symptoms that could be related to heart disease- at least we can better understand how it presents in a woman. Another example in coronary heart disease, if we only look at men; and the majority of cardiac studies are led in men, we find one kind of pathology. It's like you have a blood vessel and there's a plaque that ruptures, like at the lining of the blood vessel, and it causes obstruction. But by starting to look more and more at women with heart disease, there are women who presents with pain that is typical of a heart attack, but when you do an angiogram to look at the blockage in the blood vessels, you don't find any blockage. So we have found a new pathophysiological microvascular dysfunction, it's in the wall of the vessel where the pathology is. So by trying to understand the differences, we find new, better physiology, and then we can target therapy better.

Tarah Schwartz:

We are speaking with Dr. Louise Pilote and we are talking about research on sex, gender and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Pilote, tell us a little bit more about the gender index that you and your team have developed.

Dr. Louise Pilote:

So again, in understanding sex differences, there could be that there are biological reasons. I just described the microvascular dysfunction which is a biological difference. And also, there might be some psychosocial factors that explain why men and women present differently. My patient, the young woman, it was a psychosocial factor that made her develop obesity and hypertension as a result and diabetes. So we wanted to be able to measure gender. Gender is really the psychosocial factors- the gender roles and relations that make up the person in society- does that have an effect on health? So the index is a way of putting all these factors together. Being caregiving person- does that affect your health? Having low social support- does that affect your health? And it doesn't matter if you're a male or female, it is what are your roles and relations? That changes over time, and it changes

Tarah Schwartz:

Was there something or perhaps more than one thing that surprised you in your research over the years with the gender index?

Dr. Louise Pilote:

What was interesting is that it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman. What matters is really what your roles and relations are and what was interesting is that it actually impacts your risk of having another heart attack after. It was highlighting the impact of psychosocial factors over biology. And we've seen that with the COVID pandemic, the psychosocial impacts are very important to consider. And often in science, you tend to focus on only one thing rather than another’s. So it was an eye opening experience for me to really study both the biology and the psychosocial factors together to understand better.

Tarah Schwartz:

I'd love to jump on the COVID bandwagon because you brought it up, is there something that you learned because of what you've seen to the pandemic? Or has something changed how you are researching gender and sex and cardiovascular disease because of COVID-19?

Dr. Louise Pilote:

I think that it has confirmed what we've seen in other diseases. We conducted a study where we looked at the risk of developing COVID infection, again, separating men and women, which is not done very much. And we found that for men, it was mostly biological factors like obesity, diabetes. Then for women, it was really psychosocial factors, like if they live in an area that was poor, if they had a member of their family that they're taking care of. So, in deciding earlier on vaccination priority, we could focus certainly on the disease-related risk factors, but also, we needed to focus on the psychosocial risk factors. And I think we did that, maybe a bit late, but we started vaccinating in areas where there was more poverty and low education and so on. I think it's kind of confirmed the importance of studying both the biological and psychosocial factors determinants of health.

Tarah Schwartz:

this role Deputy Director?

Dr. Louise Pilote:

First, it's a big honor and I'm really excited because we're at a time in our institution where we have such talent and such growth, and we have an amazing new director, Dr. Rhian Touyz. We can really promote and grow the ability of our researchers to work across the continuum in terms of the lifespan the way our institution is settled is really unique. Now we have pediatrics and adults together in one institution, in one building. So this is a really great time to grow research across the lifespan. And also, our 500 researchers span from biomedical research, preclinical research, more epidemiological research, outcomes research, so we really are able to build on that and become the best in the world. That's our mission.

Tarah Schwartz:

Is that your big dream? What is your big dream for your career?

Dr. Louise Pilote:

I want equity in our impact, I want whatever we research and our discoveries to be applied to people of different socioeconomic status and ethnicity and all that. I want our research to be really impactful. And, help everyone globally. I mean, it's a big dream. But I want us to build locally in our institution, but in fact, globally, that's my dream.

Tarah Schwartz:

I think it's a wonderful dream. Dr. Louise Pilote, want to thank you so much for joining us on Health Matters today.

Dr. Louise Pilote:

Thanks a lot Tarah. Hello, it's a pleasure to be here with you today.

Tarah Schwartz:

Coming up, are you interested in learning more about your cardiac health and helping the future of cardiac So happy to have you here. So full disclosure, I registered research? We'll tell you how. I'm Tarah Schwartz, you're listening to Health Matters. You might be listening to today's show and wondering how can you monitor your heart health, you can participate in an innovative program at the MUHC and help the future of research. The Courtois Cardiovascular Signature Program follows patients and monitors their cardiac health. You don't have to have a family history of heart disease to register for the program. Julie Lebel is the manager of the Courtois Cardiovascular Signature Program, and she joins us now. Hello, Julie. for the Courtois Cardiovascular Signature Program this morning.

Julie Lebel:

Wonderful, I'm very happy to hear that.

Tarah Schwartz:

I'm excited. So what makes this program so unique?

Julie Lebel:

First of all, I can say that as a manager, I was able to choose my team. So we have built an amazing team with different type of people, everyone brings something unique and special to the program. Also, we are the first one in the world who collects data with so many people across a long period of time. This makes us very unique.

Tarah Schwartz:

So if somebody, like me, registers for the program, what can they expect? What is the process?

Julie Lebel:

Basically, there's different ways to join our program. We have word of mouth; people basically tell friends and family. Word of mouth is one of the entries of the program. We also have a beautiful website, created by a Quebec company that you can basically learn a little bit about the program, and then register online. Once you register with us, we will take 15 minutes of your time to explain the study. It's a zoom meeting that we send the participants, we explain the what it's about, and we answer any questions that they may have. Then once they want to join the program, we send all the documentation through an email and then the participants are able to book their visit. During the visit, we will ask them to do different tests, including an MRI. Everything is done electronically, so that we can reduce their footprint and make a difference in with the environment.

Tarah Schwartz:

And tell us what is the information that you are hoping to gather? And what kind of information will the participant glean from this? What will they get to know about their health?

Julie Lebel:

First of all, what we do is we have to understand that it's for research purposes, however, we ask the participant to undergo an MRI of the heart, the carotid artery and the brain, we ask different questions. We have built a series of questionnaire that we ask the participants to complete online. It's questionnaire about nutrition, about exercise and about stress. We also do blood processing. We will take blood samples from our participants, and then do certain analysis with the blood. We do an ECG and test blood pressure. As I mentioned, it's for research purpose. However, if something would show up as life-threatening or requires an immediate action, we would be in contact with the participant to help them be followed up afterwards.

Tarah Schwartz:

We're speaking with Julie Lebel; we're talking about the Courtois Cardiovascular Signature Program. It is Heart Month. What is the research that you are hoping to get from following these patients? How long do you follow them for, how many years? I think it's quite a few.

Julie Lebel:

So we will be recruiting 4000 participants over a period of five years and we will follow them for 10 years. At the beginning of the study and at year five, we will do certain tests and in between we will collect data through questionnaires. And what we aim to learn from this is to understand what is a healthy heart? Who develops heart disease over a period of 10 years? What are the risk factors that really affects the heart? With all this information, what we aim to do is identify patterns to track and create a cardiovascular signature to later on be able to personalize cardiovascular health.

Tarah Schwartz:

How many people have you recruited so far, Julie?

Julie Lebel:

1,070 as of today.

Tarah Schwartz:

So I am making 1071, now that I've registered.

Julie Lebel:

That's really good. We've just been recruiting, even during the period of COVID. People are interested, they tell their family members or friends or colleagues, so people are calling us because they want to participate. So this has been really great.

Tarah Schwartz:

I'm happy to hear that. What I like about it is that you're participating in research. Is that what you're hearing from other participants? That you're part of a program that's going to help researchers and doctors understand the heart better, and when you understand something better, you can help find treatments and cures when something goes wrong.

Julie Lebel:

Participants, when they do come and see us, we really make them understand what they're getting into. So this is very important, because you may not have like specific benefits right away. However, in maybe five or 10 years, and even likely their grandkids or kids may benefit from this research. By gathering all this data, I just want to mention that this is a platform to collaborate with other researchers. We have collaborations in Europe. We are creating a platform to learn and to answer any research question related to the heart firstly, the carotid and brain. What people get from this is that they're part of something big that will make a difference later on to personalized cardiovascular health.

Tarah Schwartz:

I love that. I love that idea. We're talking about heart health, a program that you can participate in. If you'd like to take part in research. As Julie Lebel said for something bigger. What do you encourage people to know about their cardiovascular health, just in their daily lives, what is the message you would like to convey?

Julie Lebel:

The heart is basically our motor. It's what keeps us alive. There are certain factors that we can't control. However, there's so many that we can control, we can improve, we can learn from. By learning about the heart, learning about healthy lifestyle, eating well, exercising and even reducing our stress using meditation, I am someone who is very, very active, and I eat well and but also I try to manage my stress. And by talking to my doctor, he said, why don't you try meditation? It will help reduce your stress which has an impact on the heart. So I think the message to get out there is to learn how we can improve our health, how we can have a healthier lifestyle. So that's my message to our listeners.

Tarah Schwartz:

It's a good one. It's a good one and how has the MUHC Foundation helped the Courtois Cardiovascular Signature Program?

Julie Lebel:

First of all, we're very, very grateful for your support financially, but also be have an amazing team of people in different areas. One thing, in March last year, we were able to move into your shared office space on De Maisonneuve just across from the hospital. The Foundation shared their space for our office, but also to build their center. The center allows us to see our participants and do our visits. It's a beautiful space. We also have the MUHC Foundation's support for public outreach. We're working together on creating a newsletter to reach out to other people outside MUHC, and encourage them to join the program. Eventually we hope, once COVID is done, to organize events with our participants with guest speakers or maybe like a run or certain events during the year so that we can build this community of people among the Courtois participants.

Tarah Schwartz:

Sounds like a wonderful idea. If you would like to take part in the Courtois Cardiovascular Signature Program. If you want to learn about heart health while supporting research at the same time, the website is C-V for cardiovascular C-V Signature dot ca. C-V Signature dot ca and that is how you can sign up. Julie Lebel, I want to thank you so much for joining us on Health Matters. It's always a pleasure.

Julie Lebel:

Thank you so much. And I hope that the people listening will be able to join our program and be part of this big, big change.

Tarah Schwartz:

Thank you, as do I! Thank you, Julie.

Julie Lebel:

Thank you.

Tarah Schwartz:

I'm Tarah Schwartz. Thank you for tuning in. What would you like to hear about on the show? Write to me at health matters at MUHC Foundation dot com. You can also follow us on social media or sign up for our newsletter MUHC Foundation dot com. And while you're there, you can learn all about the people and the stories. We bring you each and every week. I hope you'll join me again next Sunday. Thanks for listening to Health Matters and stay healthy.