Heng Gan
(He/Him)
MBBCH, FRCA, FRCPC, MRCPCH, MA
Investigator and Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesiologist, BC Children's Hospital
Using peri-operative patient- and parent-reported experience and outcome measures to identify paediatric postsurgical recovery trajectories: an observational cohort study
Anaesthesia
Samantha Pang and Nicholas West and Haoyu Zhao and Jessica Luo and Neil K. Chadha and Lynnie R. Correll and Heng Gan and Matthias Grges
DOI: 10.1111/anae.7018007 / 2026
Parental Perspectives on Pediatric Surgical Recovery: Narrative Analysis of Free-Text Comments From a Postoperative Survey (Preprint)
Jessica Luo and Nicholas C West and Samantha Pang and Julie M Robillard and Patricia Page and Neil K Chadha and Heng Gan and Lynnie R Correll and Randa Ridgway and Natasha Broemling and Matthias Grges
DOI: 10.2196/preprints.6519808 / 2024
Parental Perspectives on Pediatric Surgical Recovery: Narrative Analysis of Free-Text Comments From a Postoperative Survey
Jmir Perioperative Medicine
Luo, J. and West, N.C. and Pang, S. and Robillard, J.M. and Page, P. and Chadha, N.K. and Gan, H. and Correll, L.R. and Ridgway, R. and Broemling, N. and G{\"o}rges, M. and Chen, J. and Sreepada, R.S. and Wood, M.D. and Loftsgard, K.C. and Portales-Casamar, E. and Morrison, C.
DOI: 10.2196/65198Counting: An imprecise reference standard for respiratory rate measurement
Pediatric Pulmonology
Ansermino, J.M. and Ginsburg, A.S. and Dunsmuir, D. and Karlen, W. and Gan, H. and Njeru, C.M. and Dumont, G.A.
DOI: 10.1002/ppul.26208Are respiratory rate counters really so bad? Throwing the baby out with the bath water.
EClinicalMedicine
DOI: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2019.09.013 PubMed: 3183261210 / 2019
The Performance of a Mobile Phone Respiratory Rate Counter Compared to the WHO ARI Timer.
Journal of healthcare engineering
DOI: 10.1260/2040-2295.6.4.691 PubMed: 2701094801 / 2015
Healthcare Engineering Defined: A White Paper.
Journal of healthcare engineering
DOI: 10.1260/2040-2295.6.4.635 PubMed: 2701083101 / 2015
A cohort study of morbidity, mortality and health seeking behavior following rural health center visits by children under 12 in southwestern Uganda.
PloS one
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118055 PubMed: 2563594701 / 2015
Erratum: Improving the accuracy and efficiency of respiratory rate measurements in children using mobile devices (PLoS ONE (2015) 9: 6 (e99266))
PLoS ONE
Karlen, W. and Gan, H. and Chiu, M. and Dunsmuir, D. and Zhou, G.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118260Improving the accuracy and efficiency of respiratory rate measurements in children using mobile devices.
PloS one
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099266 PubMed: 2491906206 / 2014
Pediatric surgical camps as one model of global surgical partnership: a way forward.
Journal of pediatric surgery
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2014.02.069 PubMed: 2485177102 / 2014
Assessing the quality of manual respiratory rate measurements using mobile devices
IET Conference Publications
Karlen, W. and Wiens, M.O. and Gan, H. and Dunsmuir, D. and Chiu, M. and Dumont, G.A. and Ansermino, J.M.
Predicting fluid responsiveness in children: a systematic review.
Anesthesia and analgesia
DOI: 10.1213/ane.0b013e3182a9557e PubMed: 2425738912 / 2013
Ultra-low-cost clinical pulse oximetry.
Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference
DOI: 10.1109/embc.2013.6610140 PubMed: 2411032701 / 2013
Interactive visual analysis of intensive care unit data: Relationship between serum sodium concentration, its rate of change and survival outcome
GRAPP 2012 IVAPP 2012 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Graphics Theory and Applications and International Conference on Information Visualization Theory and Applications
Matkovi?, K. and Gan, H. and Ammer, A. and Bennett, D. and Purgathofer, W. and Terblanche, M.
Echo project
Echocardiography (ECHO) is used to assess various cardiac functions, including cardiac output (CO), the volume of blood pumped by the heart each minute. This value helps inform a physician’s clinical decision-making, as inadequate CO can lead to adverse health outcomes. However, ECHO can be difficult to perform and interpret.
In collaboration with SickKids Hospital and the University of Toronto, we are developing a deep-learning algorithm to overcome these challenges. This algorithm has previously been developed using ECHO images obtained by expert echocardiographers, but has not been studied using ECHO images by non-expert echocardiographers.
The objectives of this study are to:
1) Test the algorithm using transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) images taken from pediatric subjects by non-expert physicians;
2) Identify and address any errors in the algorithm; and
3) Iteratively refine and improve the algorithm using deep machine learning.
Physician participants with minimal knowledge of ECHOs are recruited, given a one-hour training session, and asked to perform TTE on pediatric subjects under general anesthesia. From these ECHO images, estimates of CO calculated by the algorithm and by an expert echocardiographer are compared.
A machine algorithm that reliably and quickly interprets CO from ECHOs taken by non-experts will make this ECHO more accessible, enhancing clinical care and allowing physicians to manage fluctuations in CO more effectively.
Core Outcomes in Children undergoing Anesthesia and Surgery: A multi-center stakeholder engagement study
• Researchers studying children undergoing anesthesia and surgery currently lack guidance about what outcomes are important to measure. As a result, a wide range of different outcomes are measured in their research, outcomes that have unclear relevance to children, parents, and their healthcare team.
• In this project we will be directly engaging members of these stakeholder groups to identify those outcomes that these stakeholders consider most important after surgery in children.
• The overall study aim is to ask key stakeholder groups to identify outcomes of greatest importance for pediatric patients undergoing anesthesia and surgery. Specifically, we will undertake surveys and semistructured interviews to gather views from pediatric surgical patients, their parents/guardians, and perioperative healthcare professionals about what outcomes are important.
Grants
Evidence to Innovation Seed Grant, Echo project, BCCHR, 2023–2025 (CAD $10,000)
Honours & Awards
Best Poster Presentation, Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists Annual Scientific Meeting, 2015
Mobile Health & Ambient Assistive Technology Challenge (Bronze), Conference on Mobile and Information Technologies in Medicine and Health, Prague, 2014
Thrasher Research Fund Early Career Award, 2012-2014
Our Research
At BC Children’s, we are making discoveries that save lives and transform health care for children in our province and around the world. Our research portfolio includes basic, clinical, population, and public health research.
EXPLORE OUR RESEARCH