Our objective
Our main focus for prevention of atherosclerosis is on children and young adults with risk factors for early heart disease, especially those who are obese, are exposed to passive smoke in the home, smoke themselves or have high levels of cholesterol. We are also focusing on subjects with pre-diabetes or diabetes, and babies who are born small at full term.
Our goals are to detect and prevent complications from three primary types of serious heart disease:
- Atherosclerosis – the narrowing of the main blood vessels in the body, and the main cause of heart attack and stroke.
- Pulmonary vascular disease – the narrowing of the main blood vessels to the lungs, which can lead to overload of the right side of the heart.
- Congenital heart disease – as an increasing number of adults surviving with inborn heart problems still require extensive care and treatment.
Our impact
Early detection and prevention of advanced heart disease may save hundreds of thousands of lives each year.
Selected publications
Celermajer DS, et al. Morbid anatomy in neonates with Ebstein's anomaly of the tricuspid valve: pathophysiologic and clinical implications. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1992;19:1049-53.
Celermajer DS, et al. Passive smoking and impaired endothelium-dependent arterial dilatation in healthy young adults. N Engl J Med. 1996;334:150-4.
Adams MR, et al. L-arginine reduces human monocyte adhesion to vascular endothelium and endothelial expression of cell adhesion molecules. Circulation. 1997;95:662-8.
Miller OI, et al. Inhaled nitric oxide and prevention of pulmonary hypertension after congenital heart surgery: a randomised double-blind study. Lancet. 2000;356:1464-9.
Woo KS, et al. Effects of diet and exercise on obesity-related vascular dysfunction in children. Circulation. 2004;109:1981-6.
Lau EM, et al. Assessment of ventriculo-arterial interaction in pulmonary arterial hypertension using wave intensity analysis. Eur Respir J. 2014;43:1804-7.
Cordina R, et al. Management errors in adults with congenital heart disease: prevalence, sources, and consequences. Eur Heart J. 2018;39:982-9.