$5M project targets heart failure (Canada)

Scientists and physicians have launched an Alberta-wide research project to better identify and treat heart failure, a condition that affects 80,000 Albertans. The five-year Alberta Heart project will see 1,000 people - half in Calgary and half in Edmonton - participate in the study as volunteers. The research will focus on identifying and treating diastolic heart failure, a condition that affects 40 per cent of those diagnosed with heart failure. The Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta, the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute and Health Solutions (funded by the Alberta Heritage for Medical Research Endowment Fund) have invested $5 million in the project. Dr. Todd Anderson, Alberta Heart co-leader and professor of medicine at the University of Calgary, said cardiologists are more adept at diagnosing heart failure when it's caused by the squeezing of the heart - called systolic heart failure. Diastolic heart failure occurs when the heart fails to relax properly between beats, so it doesn't fill up with the proper amount of blood to supply the body. Pictured are Todd Anderson, Alberta HEART co-leader, and professor of medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, and Murray Copot, an 86 year-old Calgarian with diastolic heart failure at Foothills Hospital in Calgary, Alberta Monday, March 8, 2010