ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The University of Rochester Medical Center announced a new federal grant, to the tune of $27 million, toward heart research.

The focus will be on heart failure medication. Ninety percent of people with heart failure rely on two types of beta blockers. The goal of the study is to determine which one has the better outcome, in patients who receive implantable cardioverter defibrillators.

URMC is conducting another study focused on outcomes for people with heart failure who are treated with, and without ICDs.

Beta blockers lower blood pressure. People like Tom Casper need them to maintain a healthy heart. Casper suffered cardiac arrest when he was going for a run four years ago.

“I passed a guy who was doing a run on his own, and he saw my face and knew I was in trouble,” Casper said.

The quick action of neighbors helped save him.

“My cardiologist said, my heart just decided, it’s done. Like it just stopped working, I didn’t have a heart attack, my heart just stopped,” Casper said. “My heart shut down, my nervous system just shut down … I underwent quadruple bypass, ICU for two days on a ventilator.”

He’s doing well now, but he still needs to be diligent with medication and diet because of genetics.

Doctors say when it comes to medication, no one has ever studied the differences in outcomes for the two main beta blockers — until now.

“The idea is, that we always have to ask questions, and patients drive us to find better outcomes,” said Dr. Mehmet Aktas, cardiac electrophysiologist. “If we keep doing the same thing over and over again, we’re not going to innovate.”

Casper said this is awesome news, but the world of heart care and heart health involves a lot more than just medication. He said stress was also a contributing factor for him.

“Both mental and physical … and it all ties together,” he said. “And then the other thing I’m extremely adamant about, is people understanding hands-only CPR.”

It saved his life, and now he’s running again.

“All of us probably know someone very close to us in our family, community that has this condition,” said Dr. Aktas. “We’re hoping to be able to improve outcomes in an incremental way.”

Doctors hope to have concrete results from the study in at least six years.

Heart patients under URMC’s care can partake in the study — which is getting national and international attention already.

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