HHS one of new hospitals nationwide treating the heart with radiation

HN Summary

• Innovative, non-invasive heart treatment: Hamilton Health Sciences is among a small number of hospitals worldwide offering stereotactic arrhythmia radiation therapy (STAR), using targeted radiation to treat life-threatening ventricular tachycardia in patients who have exhausted standard options.

• Collaboration across specialties: The program brings together cardiology and cancer experts at Hamilton General Hospital and the Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre, adapting advanced radiation technology traditionally used in cancer care to stabilize abnormal heart rhythms.

• Early success and patient impact: Since launching in July 2025, the STAR program has treated its first patients with promising early results, improving quality of life and offering new hope for carefully selected cardiac patients.

Radiation therapy has long been used to treat cancer by targeting malignant cells with high-energy radiation that damages their DNA. Now, doctors at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) are using radiation to stop a potentially deadly heart rhythm in cardiac patients who have run out of treatment options.

Stereotactic arrhythmia radiation therapy (STAR) is a non-invasive treatment that uses highly focused radiation to treat ventricular tachycardia (VT), a type of fast, abnormal heart rhythm that can cause sudden cardiac death.

VT most commonly affects patients with heart damage from previous heart attacks or other cardiac conditions. Scarred or weakened areas of heart muscle can disrupt normal electrical signals, creating abnormal circuits that cause the heart to beat dangerously fast. STAR treatment precisely targets areas of damaged heart muscle that disrupt electrical signaling, helping to stabilize the heart’s rhythm over time, without surgery.

HHS launched its STAR treatment program in July 2025 through a partnership between our Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre (JHCC) and Hamilton General Hospital (HGH) sites. HHS is among only a small number of hospitals in Canada and worldwide offering this treatment.

The HHS STAR program was developed by HGH cardiologist Dr. Guy Amit and JHCC radiation oncologist Dr. Kimmen Quan, who brought together expertise from cardiology and cancer care to adapt stereotactic radiation—normally used to target tumors—to treat the heart.

Two cardiac patients have received STAR treatment so far, both with positive early results, and several additional patients have been identified as potential candidates.

Retired pilot Bill Nash, 88, of Burlington was the first HHS cardiac patient to receive this treatment. “My quality of life is much, much better now,” says Nash, who was losing strength and becoming increasingly frail prior to radiation treatment. Now he’s building back strength by once again doing activities like his daily, at-home exercise regimen.

The STAR option

STAR can be an option for carefully selected patients whose arrhythmias can’t be controlled with the two current standards of care — medication and catheter ablation, a four-to-six hour procedure where a doctor threads a catheter through blood vessels to the heart to cauterize tissue causing the abnormal rhythm.

While catheter ablation and medications are highly effective for many patients, they don’t work for everyone. For example, some patients are too frail, or may have already undergone multiple unsuccessful ablations. Or they may have abnormal tissue in areas of the heart that catheters can’t safely reach. For these patients, STAR may be an option.

“This isn’t about replacing established therapies,” says Quan. “It’s about offering hope to patients who have exhausted standard options.” 

Lightning bolt to the chest

Nash had already tried medications and two catheter ablations with limited success. The first ablation didn’t work. The second controlled his rhythm for several years, but eventually his VT returned, triggering repeated shocks from the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) in his chest.

The ICD monitors his heart rate, and when it detects an irregular heartbeat it delivers a shock to return his heart beat to normal. This unexpected jolt would knock Nash off his feet.

“I’ve never been struck by lightning, but I imagine that’s how it feels,” Nash says of the shocks. “They came without warning. My quality of life was really poor.”

Since undergoing STAR treatment in July, Nash’s ICD hasn’t activated. “It’s been quite a comeback for me,” he says.

A top Canadian research hospital

HHS is well positioned to offer this innovative new treatment for patients at risk of VT. As one of Canada’s top five research hospitals, HHS is home to a world-renowned cardiac team recognized for its expertise, research and innovation. Our HGH is among the province’s busiest cardiac centres, with large enough numbers of patients to take part in VT research studies. And JHCC is home to top Canadian and international cancer specialists and researchers.

While the STAR program remains limited to very specific cases, doctors say ongoing research will help determine how well radiation works over the long term and where it may fit alongside existing treatments.

Paving the way

STAR was developed in St. Louis, Missouri, and it took a year of planning and development to adopt it here, through a collaboration between the cardiac electrophysiology (cardiac arrhythmia specialist) team at HGH and the radiation oncology, physics and therapy teams at JHCC.

“Using radiation to treat abnormal heart rhythms is still very new worldwide,” says Amit, who specializes in treating cardiac patients with irregular heartbeats. “It’s promising, but it’s being offered only to very carefully selected patients while we continue to study its long-term safety and effectiveness.”

Quan, who specializes in high-dose precision radiation for cancer treatment, first began exploring the idea of applying radiation techniques to heart rhythm disorders several years ago, when his grandmother was in hospital for heart failure.

“Spending time in a cardiac ward while my grandmother was being treated made me think about whether the tools we use in cancer care could help heart patients who have no other options,” says Quan, who began reviewing emerging research and imaging techniques and later partnered with Amit to adapt the approach for use at HHS.

Behind the scenes, Quan also worked closely with radiation physicist Dr. Tom Chow as well as radiation therapists and software specialists at JHCC, and cardiology colleagues at HGH to design a new treatment-planning workflow, adapting techniques traditionally used in cancer care for the heart.

The proposed approach was then reviewed and approved through JHCC’s clinical governance and safety oversight processes, allowing the program to proceed within the same rigorous standards applied to complex cancer treatments.

Personalized treatment plans are created for each patient. Using CT scans, MRIs, and advanced software, the team maps the damaged area of the heart and develops a radiation plan precise enough to protect surrounding healthy tissue. The actual treatment takes just 20 minutes, requires no incisions or catheters, and patients go home the same day.

“I’m just amazed,” says Nash, of the treatment’s ease and effectiveness. “I feel like I’m brand new.”

Lise Diebel works in communications at HHS.