View clinical trials related to Constriction, Pathologic.
Filter by:This is a prospective, randomized, single-center clinical study aiming to explore the safety and efficacy of venous stenting for patients with internal jugular vein stenosis (IJVS).
Aging of the back is common in the older people and can result in difficulties standing and walking. Conservative treatment is recommended before considering surgery. Some recommended exercises involve the use of expensive equipment. The present study plans to evaluate if specifically moving the nerves in the legs/back and improving flexibility of the hip and back can benefit patients. These exercises require no equipment, are simple to perform, and can provide patients a way to continue to perform these exercises at home. The purposes of this study are to (1) observe the benefit of a treatment program involving moving the nerves of the leg/back, stretching the legs and low back in patients with low back pain and difficulties walking; and (2) determine if benefits received remain at a 3-month follow-up.
Decompression surgery has proved to be effective for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis (LSS) with persistent pain. But the efficiency of the surgery for degenerated LSS remain uncertain and is the subject of this study. This is a multiple center open-label randomised trial. Patients were randomly allocated to surgical group or a nonoperative group. Because of the procedure , neither patients nor investigators were blinded. The primary outcome is the change of symptom measure by the Oswestry disability index 6, 12, and 24 months after procedure.
Aortic stenosis is the most common valve disease requiring surgery in the Western world. It is defined by progressive calcification and fibrosis of the valve leaflets and restricted valve opening. This in turn exposes the heart muscle (left ventricle) to increasing pressure leading to heart muscle thickening (left ventricular hypertrophy, LVH) to normalise wall stress and maintain heart output (stroke volume). The only treatment available is relief of pressure overload by surgical or minimally invasive valve replacement (TAVI). Transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis is a condition characterised by deposition of insoluble transthyretin protein (a small protein tetramer produced in the liver) in various tissues, predominantly in the heart. Although there are inherited forms caused by specific TTR gene mutations, most cases occur in older individuals with non-mutated TTR (wild-type). The finding of TTR plaques in elderly individuals is relatively common; in a post-mortem study 22-25% of patients over the age of 80 had evidence of cardiac amyloid deposition. However, there is significant progressive amyloid accumulation in a small percentage of individuals leading to heart muscle thickening and heart failure. No medical treatments are currently licensed although several agents are at advanced stages of clinical trials. As both the above conditions are increasingly common in the elderly population and characterised by increased heart muscle thickening, there is the potential for them to coexist unrecognised in individual patients. The prevalence of cardiac amyloidosis in clinical populations with significant aortic stenosis is not known however small series have estimated somewhere in the region of 6-29%. Other data have suggested that patients with aortic stenosis and concurrent cardiac amyloidosis have an adverse prognosis even despite AVR. It is therefore important to identify aortic stenosis patients with coexistent amyloidosis both in terms of predicting prognosis and because it may influence decisions about whether to proceed to valve intervention. PET/MR is an emerging technique, which combines the excellent temporal and spatial resolution of MRI with the sensitive molecular imaging of PET. PET/MR has significant advantages over PET/CT (the currently more widely used approach) in that it offers superior tissue characterisation, improved correction for cardiac and respiratory motion and major reductions in radiation exposure. Whilst there are concerns about its ability to provide reliable attenuation correction of the PET data, these issues appear to have been largely overcome with recent techniques proposed by our group. MR is also more naturally suited to the imaging of certain tissues in the body compared to CT including the left ventricular myocardium. In aortic stenosis, MRI has become the gold-standard technique for examining the heart muscle (myocardium) with the unique ability to assess its tissue composition. In particular both late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) and T1 mapping based techniques are able to detect heart scarring (fibrosis) which act as biomarkers of left ventricular decompensation and are strongly associated with poor patient outcomes. CMR is also the gold-standard non-invasive technique for detecting cardiac amyloid, which is associated with both a characteristic pattern of LGE and high native T1 values. However it is not currently able to differentiate between the two different types of cardiac amyloid TTR and AL amyloidosis, which have different prognoses and treatments. Preliminary studies conducted by our group have suggested that 18F-NaF PET when added to CMR can make this distinction on the basis that this tracer binds to TTR deposits but not AL deposits, may be able to differentiate between the two. Importantly we have also used the same PET tracer as a marker of calcification activity in the aortic valve, demonstrating its ability to predict disease progression and cardiac events. In this study, we will investigate whether PET/MR could be used as "one-stop" imaging in aortic stenosis in whom valve intervention is being considered to assess in detail functional and structural properties of both the valve and myocardium and identify cases of significant cardiac TTR amyloid deposition.
Feasibility testing of a cap-assisted endoscopic bougienage for benign upper GI stenosis with direct optical control.
Although aortic valve replacement is recommended for any symptomatic severe calcific aortic stenosis, the therapeutic decision may be difficult. because of patient age and comorbidities. Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) has recently extended the therapeutic indications in patients at high risk of surgery. However, the proportion of different treatments is not known in a contemporary population that can be treated according to the different resources currently available. The scientific goal of this observational research is to evaluate intra-hospital therapeutic decision in elderly patients referred because of symptomatic severe aortic stenosis. The one-year survival will be analyzed according to the therapeutic decision and the characteristics of the patients.
Spinal stenosis is a common orthopedic spine condition that limits individuals ability to walk and stand because of nerve compression. Surgical treatment can alleviate leg pain and improve function such as increasing physical activity. This study will use Fitbit technology to monitor patient's post-operative physical activity. It will evaluate the efficacy of a Fitbit incentive based walking program on improving post-operative physical activity and rehabilitation.
Aortic stenosis is the most common heart valve disease requiring intervention in high income countries. It is characterised by progressive valvular thickening, and restriction as well is hypertrophy and fibrosis of the left ventricle in response to pressure overload. The pathological processes in the left ventricle that ultimately result in heart failure and death are incompletely understood. Further elucidation of these processes and how they correlate with novel blood biomarkers may help us design new treatments and optimise the timing of surgical intervention. In brief, recruited patients with severe aortic stenosis and scheduled to undergo valve replacement surgery will be invited for some simple tests (blood sampling, ECG, echocardiogram). A septal myocardial biopsy will be taken at the time of surgery and the disease valve retained. These will be examined histologically and pathological changes compared with results obtained from ECG, echocardiogram and blood tests.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether a home-based cycling program for patients with lumbar spinal stenosis is a feasible and acceptable
Aortic stenosis (AS) is the most frequent valvular heart disease in Western countries, with increasing prevalence. Recent guidelines recommend aortic valve intervention (surgical aortic valve replacement [SAVR] or transcatheter aortic valve replacement [TAVR]) in severe AS, as soon as symptoms or left ventricular (LV) dysfunction occur, in order to improve clinical outcome and achieve LV mass (LVM) regression. The highest amount of LVM regression is obtained during the first year. Nevertheless, there is heterogeneity in LV remodeling and residual LV hypertrophy is associated with poorer postoperative improvement in cardiac function and morphology. Incomplete regression of LV hypertrophy at 12 months after SAVR is a powerful predictor of adverse outcome. Yet, the use of specific pharmacological therapy to improve postoperative LVM regression could be an appealing therapeutic option after aortic valve intervention. Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system blockers (RAASb) and more particularly angiotensin-II receptor blockers (ARBs) are efficient in reducing LVM in hypertensive patients, as emphasized by several meta-analyses. In addition, ARBs improve myocardial relaxation, diastolic function, decreased hypertrophy and may have anti-fibrotic effects. In a recent retrospective study from our group, RAASb prescription after SAVR was associated with increased survival, but confirmation through a randomized trial is mandatory. In a prospective randomized single-center study, the use of candesartan was associated both with LV and LA remodeling as compared to the conventional management. Nevertheless, these results are based on echocardiographic data, which is not the gold standard for the assessment cardiac remodeling, and no placebo or active comparator was tested to control the impact of ARBs in these patients. The primary objective of this Phase II study is to investigate the efficacy of valsartan, introduced postoperatively, as compared to placebo, on 1-year changes in indexed LVM, as assessed by CMR, in patients undergoing aortic valve intervention (SAVR or TAVR) for AS. The secondary objectives are to compare the efficacy of valsartan vs. placebo in terms of one-year changes (difference from baseline) in cardiac function and in cardiac morphology, one-year exercise capacity and one-year changes in biomarkers related to cardiac function. In addition, the assessment of the safety of valsartan will also be considered as secondary objective. The ARISTOTE trial is a multicenter prospective phase II, randomized, double-blind study including patients with the diagnosis of severe AS and indication for valve intervention. The active treatment is valsartan, an orally active, potent, and specific angiotensin II receptor antagonist. Patients will be randomized between 2 groups (valsartan versus placebo) and the treatment will be initiated (80 mg daily) at 5±4 days following aortic valve intervention. The comparative treatment will be a placebo; tablets of valsartan and placebo have a similar appearance and administration mode. Patient in the control group will receive a placebo using the same protocol as the valsartan group. The patients will be cautiously monitored and any adverse events will be collected. The dose will be increased at 160 mg daily 13±2 days after aortic valve intervention and, if well tolerated, for the remaining period of the study. The tolerance will be regularly assessed and dose adjusted according to a pre-specified algorithm.