View clinical trials related to Heart Block.
Filter by:The purpose of the research study "Heart Sounds at Home" is for pregnant SSA or SSA/SSB (Sjögren syndrome B) antibody positive mothers to use a Doppler fetal heart rate monitor to detect abnormal heart rates and rhythms in their babies before they are born.
The number of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) implanted each year has grown rapidly over the past two decades. CIED infections, defined as infections involving the generator implant site (pocket) and/or intravascular leads, have become increasingly prevalent, with the rate of growth in infections outpacing that of CIED procedures. The odds of both short term and long term mortality are at least doubled in patients who suffer CIED infections, and long term survival is particularly poor in women. Optimal strategies to prevent CIED infections in high-risk patients are largely unproven. However, recent observational studies of an antibiotic-coated envelope implanted at the time of CIED procedure have shown that this strategy is associated with a low incidence of CIED infections. Other interventions to prevent CIED infections, including the use of antibiotic irrigant used to wash the pocket during implantation and postoperative oral antibiotics, are commonly used but not supported by rigorous controlled studies. The Specific Aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that the use of the antibacterial envelope alone is noninferior to a strategy using the antibacterial envelope and intraoperative antibacterial irrigant and postoperative oral antibiotics for the reduction of cardiac implantable device infections in patients with ≥2 risk factors for infection.
To observe the safety and efficacy of ImageReady™ MR Conditional Pacing System in Chinese subjects
The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of left ventricular lead pacing location in the non-left bundle branch block (non-LBBB) heart failure patient population. The left ventricular lead pacing location will be guided by either the pacing site with the largest amount of dyssynchrony as measured by the LV electrical delay (QLV) or the physician's standard of care implant approach.
The most common congenital heart disease is the ventricular septal defect, and after surgical closure of a such defect, an arrythmia called the right bundle branch block, is very frequent. Therefore the aim of this study is to investigate if this group of patients has inferior outcomes compared to the group without this arrythmia after surgical closure and compared to a group of healthy control subjects. All patients will be undergoing 1. exercise testing, 2. echocardiography, 3. echocardiography during exercise, and 4. MRI. The perspective is the ability to point out a group of patients with a possible need of further intervention, and additionally to increase the awareness of protecting the electrical system of the heart during the operation.
Syncope affects about 50% of Canadians, is the cause of 1 - 2% of all emergency room visits, and probably is responsible for CDN $250 million in health care spending each year. It is associated with decreased quality of life, trauma, loss of employment, and limitations in daily activities. It is a particular problem for older people, partly because of increased frailty, and partly because of a difficult differential diagnosis. One of the causes in older adults is intermittent complete heart block in the setting of bifascicular heart block, but they may also faint due to a variety of tachyarrhythmias, sick sinus syndrome, and several neurally mediated syncopes. Often treatment decisions should be made before the true cause is apparent.
Women with antibodies to proteins called SSA/Ro and or SSB/La face a 2% chance of having a child with a life threatening heart condition regardless of whether they have very active lupus, are in remission, or have only vague symptoms. This heart problem is referred to as congenital heart block (the most serious being third degree complete block) and represents damage thought to be caused by these autoantibodies. The heart beats abnormally slowly and almost all children require permanent pacemakers before the age of 20. Importantly, women who have had one child with heart block have a ten-fold higher risk of having another child with the same heart condition. Unfortunately, even close monitoring by special techniques during pregnancy does not reverse complete heart block once it is observed. Thus, treatments aimed at prevention are critical. This study will evaluate for the first time whether hydroxychloroquine, a drug used by many patients with SLE, prevents the development of this heart condition. Data from laboratory experiments suggests that this drug, which crosses the placenta, may decrease the inflammation initiated by the passage of anti-Ro antibodies to the fetus. The study uses a Simon's 2-Stage design, and plans to enroll 19 patients in Stage 1 and 35 patients in Stage 2 if Stage 1 is successful. Patients can already be on hydroxychloroquine or will be started as soon as pregnancy is confirmed. The hope is that fewer than 3 cases of heart block will occur in Stage 1, and fewer than 6 cases will occur out of all 54 patients if Stage 2 is reached. The results of this study are expected to become an integral part of the counseling of women with anti-Ro/La antibodies who are considering pregnancy.
Heart failure (HF) affects 5 million Americans and is responsible for more health-care expenditure than any other medical diagnosis. Approximately half of all HF patients have electrocardiographic prolongation of the QRS interval and ventricular dyssynchrony, a perturbation of the normal pattern of ventricular contraction that reduces the efficiency of ventricular work. Ventricular dyssynchrony is directly responsible for worsening HF symptomatology in this subset of patients. Resynchronization of ventricular contraction is usually achieved through simultaneous pacing of the left and right ventricles using a biventricular (BiV) pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. Clinical trial evidence supporting the use of BiV pacing in patients with prolonged QRS duration was obtained almost exclusively in patients with a left bundle-branch block (LBBB) electrocardiographic pattern. Recent evidence suggests that resynchronization of ventricular contraction in patients with LBBB can be obtained by univentricular left ventricular pacing with equal or superior clinical benefits compared to BiV pacing. Animal studies suggest that ventricular resynchronization can be obtained in subjects with right bundle-branch block (RBBB) through univentricular right ventricular pacing. No clinical trial evidence exists to support the use of BiV pacing in patients with RBBB. Thousands of patients with symptomatic HF and RBBB currently have univentricular ICDs in place for the prevention of sudden cardiac death. Most of these devices are currently programmed to avoid RV pacing. We aim to determine if ventricular resynchronization delivered through univentricular RV pacing improves symptoms in patients with RBBB and moderate to severe HF who have previously undergone BiV ICD implantation for symptomatic heart failure. We further aim to determine if ventricular resynchronization improves myocardial performance and ventricular geometry as detected by echocardiographic measures and quality of life for patients with HF and RBBB. We hypothesize that RV univentricular pacing delivered with an atrio-ventricular interval that maximizes ventricular synchrony is equivalent to BiV pacing for improvement in cardiac performance, HF symptoms, and positive ventricular remodeling in patients with HF and RBBB.
Unlike phones, which are commonly held to the ear, music is now available via portable MP3 players and they can be held almost anywhere. Thaker et al state that Apple iPods cause pacemaker interference in 50% of their patients, with over-sensing in 20% of patients, telemetry interference in 29% of patients and pacemaker inhibition in 1.2% of patients. The mean age for their sample was 76.1 years +/- 8.6 years. We anticipate that a higher proportion of teenagers and children who have pacemakers use portable MP3 players than in the elderly adult population.We will include the first 100 patients with pacemakers and ICDs who consent for the prospective observational study a single tertiary care center. We intend to conduct a descriptive study, tabulating the number of times that a pacemaker or ICD has changes in the sensing thresholds, pacing thresholds, telemetry interference or pacemaker inhibition when exposed to a series of portable MP3 players at various distances. In addition, we will describe the nature and quantitative differences of those changes.
Neonatal lupus (NL) is the name given to a group of conditions that can affect the babies of mothers who have certain autoantibodies against components of the body's cells that are called SSA/Ro and SSB/La. NL can appear as a temporary rash that usually goes away by the time the baby is 6 months old, or very rarely an abnormal blood or liver condition that also improves with time - or it can cause permanent and often life-threatening damage to the fetal heart, known as congenital heart block (CHB). In women with anti-Ro/La antibodies who are pregnant for the first time, only about 2% of the babies will develop CHB. But for a woman who has already had a child with CHB or NL rash, the risk of CHB in her next pregnancy is nearly 20%. Unfortunately, once complete (third degree) heart block has been unequivocally identified in a fetus, it has never been reversed with any of the therapies that have been tried to date. Our previous studies strongly indicate that scarring of the conduction system (the heart's own natural "pacemaker"), a consequence of inflammation triggered by the mother's antibodies, damages or even destroys the cells that allow the heart to beat at a normal rhythm. Instead, the damaged heart beats extremely slowly, to an extent that is fatal to nearly 20% of affected babies (with most deaths occurring as fetal demises). Nearly all surviving children with CHB require permanent implantation of a pacemaker device. Because it is so difficult to treat or repair the damaged heart, a high-priority strategy is to try to prevent the inflammatory process before irreversible scarring can occur. The aim of this clinical-based proposal is to determine whether treating the pregnant mother with intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) will prevent the development of CHB.