View clinical trials related to Atrial Fibrillation.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of biventricular pacing over conventional right ventricular pacing in patients with persistent or permanent, symptomatic atrial fibrillation undergoing atrioventricular (AV) node ablation and permanent pacing therapy.
24 week, single center, prospective, randomized, double-blind treatment study of valsartan (80 mg/bid, increased to 160 mg/bid) or placebo in addition to other general medical therapy in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing electrical cardioversion to restore normal sinus rhythm (SR).
Roughly thirty percent of people that undergo open heart surgery get an abnormal heart beat afterwards known as atrial fibrillation (AF). While not life threatening, this abnormal heart beat increases the likelihood of stroke and delays recovery. There are strategies to prevent post-operative AF, but they are costly and sometimes have undesirable side effects. Therefore, it would be best if we use these preventive treatments only in high risk patients. We intend to develop a risk prediction model based on demographic and electrocardiogram (ECG) findings that will predicted who is likely to get AF. We will develop this model using data already available on patients who have undergone cardiac surgery. The development of this model will use the latest mathematical algorithms similar to those used to study genetic evolution. This type of model is capable of looking at many parameters in an unbiased way, so that only the strongest, independent predictors remain in the final model. Once, the model is developed, we will validate the model by comparing our predictions to actual outcomes previously recorded in the database.
It is well known that abnormal heart beats from the top parts of the heart, atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial flutter (Aflut), occur frequently after most types of cardiac surgeries. Postoperative AF and Aflut are associated with significant morbidity, longer hospital stay, and higher related costs. Currently therapies are marginally effective at preventing this abnormal heart beat. The incidence of abnormal heart beats after cardiac surgery seems to be a function of the amount of inflammation and oxidative stress induced. Our group and others have shown that atrial abnormal heart beats are associated with increased oxidative stress. Thiazolidinediones (TZDs) are medications used to treat diabetes. Beside their glucose lowering effects, TZDs are shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Therefore, we propose to retrospectively analyze the effect of pre-operative TZDs on the incidence of post-operative AF or Aflut. This study will involve retrospective chart reviews without further patient contact of all patients having undergone cardiac surgery in Emory University Hospital, Crawford Long Hospital, or the VA Medical Center from 2000 to 2005. This study is preparatory to a funding proposal for a prospective trial.
Patents with atrial fibrillation can be treated with the purpose of curing the arrhythmia.This may be achieved by catheter ablation and Maze surgery where the latter includes open heart surgery. By catheter ablation the arrhythmia can be cured in about 70 % of patients who have episodes of atrial fibrillation. In patients with permanent atrial fibrillation the results are not as good. We will compare a conventional ablation approach where lesions are created on the inside of the heart with a thoracoscopic approach where the lesions are created from the outside of the heart.
The purpose of this study is to test whether the drug, atorvastatin, will be able to reduce the rate of return of the abnormal beats after using cardioversion. Atorvastatin is a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of high cholesterol but is not approved for preventing abnormal heartbeats. In addition to lowering cholesterol, the drug reduces inflammation. Inflammation seems to help cause atrial fibrillation, a certain type of abnormal heartbeat. In animals, atorvastatin reduces the risk of this type of abnormal beats, and preliminary data in humans supports an effect of atorvastatin and other similar drugs that have the same action on reducing the risk of this type of abnormal beats. We, the researchers at Emory University, would like to learn if this drug could prevent the return of these abnormal heartbeats.
Over the past decade, techniques have been refined which permit an enormous amount of information relevant to disease mechanisms to be gained from the examination of heart tissue. The Cardiovascular Institute has extensive experience with these techniques, and has utilized them to examine other heart disease substrates. In this study, the investigators propose to obtain heart tissue at the time of cardiac surgery which would otherwise be discarded. Their plan is to examine this tissue and correlate their findings with clinical data. Their hope is that the proposed study will provide insight into atrial physiology, including the molecular mechanisms underlying atrial disease and the potential development of atrial fibrillation (AF). This will be a prospective "registry" for atrial tissue. The investigators propose an enrollment of 300 subjects, to take place at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Presbyterian over a 5 year period.
The purpose of the study is to look at the differences between people who have irregular heart beats coming from the upper chamber of the heart (atrial fibrillation) compared to those who do not have these irregular beats.
The purpose of this study is to determine if the combination of Clopidogrel 75mg once daily (od) plus aspirin at 100mg daily (recommended dose) is as effective as oral anticoagulation therapy with a lower risk of bleeding in patients with atrial fibrillation associated with at least one major cardiovascular risk factor.Primary objectives :The combination of clopidogrel plus aspirin compared to adjusted dose (INR between 2.0 and 3.3) oral anticoagulation (a vitamin K antagonist) will result in the same risk of the composite outcome of stroke, non-CNS systemic embolism, myocardial infarction or vascular death in patients with atrial fibrillation.The secondary objective is to establish whether or not aspirin plus clopidogrel has a lower risk of hemorrhage than standard anticoagulation therapy.
The objective of this prospective multicenter randomized study is to establish the effectiveness of treatment of persistent atrial fibrillation by encircling the pulmonary veins with radiofrequency (RF) ablation and creating additional lines of block with the aid of the NAVISTAR® THERMOCOOL® catheter in conjunction with the CARTO™ EP Navigation System. Effectiveness will be determined by comparing the chronic success of ablation therapy versus antiarrhythmic drug therapy, defined as the absence of persistent tachyarrhythmias during the first 24 months after a run-in phase of 2 months.