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Schulich Heart Program

SRI programs

Dr. Eugene Crystal
Eugene Crystal

Cardiologist, Professor of Medicine

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
2075 Bayview Ave., Room D3 77
Toronto, ON
M4N 3M5

Phone: 416-480-6100 ext. 67370
Fax: 416-480-5069

Administrative Assistant: Tarja Dodgson
Email: Tarja.dodgson@sunnybrook.ca

Dr. Crystal is a staff cardiologist and electrophysiologist at the Arrhythmia Services at the Schulich Heart Centre. He joined the Division of Cardiology in 2002. He is a founder of the Arrhythmia Services at Sunnybrook and he served as a Director of the services between 2010 and 2020.

Dr. Crystal is a Professor of Medicine at University of Toronto. He also serves as an Associate Scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute, and the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St Michael Hospital.

He is a Chairman of the National Ablation Committee (Canadian Heart Rhythm Society). He is the President of the Society For Cardiac Remote Navigation of Americas (SCRN-A), and President of Global SCRN. He is a board member of the World Society of Arrhythmia and a founding member of the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society. He is also a board member of the Ontario Association of Cardiologists.

Dr. Crystal is the Chairman and Founder of the Winter Arrhythmia School, the largest Arrhythmia educational event in Canada.

His research interests are in ablation strategies for various cardiac arrhythmia, and in development of robotics and automation in ablation therapy, as well as in the optimization of arrhythmia device therapies. He authored and co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts in clinical and experimental cardiology. He holds numerous patents in the field of cardiology.

Currently, he is a Principal Investigator of DxAF trial (AF in ICD patients) and SPARTAC trial (sham ablation trial in SVT).

Dr. Crystal is a member of over 15 scientific committees of international Cardiac Electrophysiology congresses and a reviewer for numerous journals in the field of cardiovascular medicine.

Dr. Crystal is co-appointed as Cardiologist/Electrophysiologist at Women's College Hospital

Clinical profileShow/hide details

Clinical Administrative Assistant: Cecille Lopez
Phone: 416-480-6100 ext. 67383

Appointments and Affiliations:

  • Cardiologist and electrophysiologist, Schulich Heart Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
  • Cardiologist and electrophysiologist, Women's College Hospital
  • Associate scientist, Physical Sciences, Schulich Heart Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute
  • Professor, department of medicine, University of Toronto
  • Member, Heart Rhythm Society, Canadian Heart Rhythm Society
  • Founding member, European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society

Clinical focus:

  • Catheter ablation (manual and robotic) of atrial fibrillation, complex atrial arrhythmia, ventricular tachycardia and supraventricular tachycardia.
    Highly experienced in redo procedures for the recurrent arrhythmia, as well as in non invasive / medical management of the arrhythmia.
  • Implantation and chronic management of cardiac arrhythmia devices (defibrillators, pacemakers, cardiac resynchronization)

Research profileShow/hide details

Appointments and Affiliations:

Research Foci:

  • Imaging and catheter tracking in invasive electrophysiology
  • Outcomes research in cardiac electrophysiology
  • Robotics in cardiac electrophysiology

Research Summary:

The focus of Dr. Crystal's research is cardiac arrhythmias, in particular atrial fibrillation, device therapies and imaging guidance in electrophysiology. He has authored and co-authored more than 20 book chapters in the area of cardiovascular electrophysiology and cardiology, and has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications. He is co-author of the Canadian national guidelines on the management of atrial fibrillation and is involved in clinical research related to interventional cardiac electrophysiology.

He is principal investigator and co-investigator of numerous peer-reviewed and industry grants related to research in cardiac arrhythmia. Dr. Crystal authored and co-authored numerous patents in technology related to arrhythmia treatments. He is one of the pioneers in robotics use in cardiac electrophysiology.

Dr. Crystal is a member of numerous international cardiac electrophysiology congresses and a founding member of the European Cardiac Arrhythmia Society. He is also the founder and chair of the annual International Winter Arrhythmia Symposium, the largest arrhythmia continuing medical education event in Canada.

    Selected Publications:

    See current publications list at PubMed.

    1. Robert N, Polack GG, Sethi B, Rowlands JA, Crystal E. 3-D localization of electrophysiology catheters from a single x-ray cone-beam projection. Med Phys. 2015 Oct;42(10):6112–24.
    2. Shurrab M, Di Biase L, Briceno DF, Kaoutskaia A, Haj-Yahia S, Newman D, Lashevsky I, Nakagawa H, Crystal E. Impact of contact force technology on atrial fibrillation ablation: a meta-analysis. J Am Heart Assoc. 2015 Sep 21;4(9):e002476.
    3. Goldenberg GR, Burd D, Lodzinski P, Stabile G, Udell JA, Newman D, Shurrab M, Crystal E. Antiarrhythmic therapy as an adjuvant to promote post pulmonary vein isolation success-a meta-analysis. J Interv Card Electrophysiol. Epub 2016 Jun 29.
    4. Zeidan-Shwiri T, Yang Y, Lashevsky I, Kadmon E, Kagal D, Dick A, Laish Farkash A, Paul G, Gao D, Shurrab M, Newman D, Wright G, Crystal E. Magnetic resonance estimates of the extent and heterogeneity of scar tissue in ICD patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy predict ventricular arrhythmia. Heart Rhythm. 2015 Apr;12(4):802–8.
    5. Shurrab M, Szili-Torok T, Akca F, Tiong I, Kagal D, Newman D, Lashevsky I, Onalan O, Crystal E. Empiric slow pathway ablation in non-inducible supraventricular tachycardia. Int J Cardiol. 2015 Jan 20;179:417–20.

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