Article content
MONTREAL, March 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) announces that the BRAIN-AF study has received a $1.4 million grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Seeking to better understand the effects of cardiovascular disease on the cognitive decline of the brain, the study will be able to recruit participants remotely thanks to this funding.
BRAIN-AF is studying a common heart rhythm disorder called atrial fibrillation (AF). This is the first study in the world to analyze the effects of atrial fibrillation on cognitive decline in young patients up to age 65. “We hypothesize
that cardiac microclots damage the brains of young patients with atrial fibrillation,” says Dr. Lena Rivard, a cardiologist specializing in electrophysiology at the MHI, and the principal investigator of the BRAIN-AF study launched in 2015 with her colleagues, Drs. Denis Roy and Paul Khairy.