View clinical trials related to Heart Diseases.
Filter by:Endothelial dysfunction is an early marker of atherosclerosis and is found in patients (pts) with coronary (CAD) and peripheral artery disease (PAD). Statin-therapy has been shown to improve endothelial function in pts with CAD or PAD by reducing LDL-cholesterol and inflammatory markers. B-group vitamin-supplements have variable been reported to have positive or neutral effects on endothelial function. Therefore, we want to compare the effect of rosuvastatin and B-group vitamin supplementation on endothelial function of the forearm resistance vessels in pts with cardiovascular disease.
Background: Children having open heart surgery to repair congenital heart defects demonstrate a large inflammatory response to the heart-lung machine and to surgery itself. In general, the more intense their inflammatory response, the more critically ill they are following surgery. These children routinely require large numbers of blood transfusions during and following surgery as part of their medical management that adds to their heightened inflammatory state. Whether additional steps to "wash" blood products and remove the substances contributing to post-transfusion inflammation will limit this response, and improve the health of children following open heart surgery, remains to be studied. Aims: To compare the inflammatory response in children having open heart surgery who receive washed versus unwashed blood transfusions. Methods: We will randomly assign children having open heart surgery to one of two groups: group 1 will receive blood transfusions per the current standard of care, group 2 will receive blood transfusions that have been washed in addition to the current standard of care. We will then use blood tests to measure the inflammatory response in children of each group. We will compare the results to determine whether washing blood transfusions decreases inflammation and post-operative complications following open heart surgery. Conclusion: We believe that washing blood transfusions given to children following open heart surgery will decrease their inflammatory response and improve their overall health.
Surgical revascularization has proven its efficacy in term of morbidity and mortality in patients with multivessel coronary disease and poor left ventricular function. Nevertheless, if left ventricle is severely dilated, the improvement of global contractility and reduction of volumes is frequently absent after CABG even if substantial amount of myocardial viability is present. A value of > 140 ml for end systolic volume has been proposed as the cut off for the absence of recovery after revascularization. Recently, a reduction of cardiac volumes and improvement of regional and global contractility has been demonstrated in patients with advanced ischemic heart disease, severe dilation of left ventricle and poor candidates for revascularization after injection of stem cells in territories with residual viability.
A retrospective cohort study performed in the GPRD,UK. All patients with incident prostate cancer identified between 1 Jan 1999 and 31 Dec 2005 and a frequency-matched cohort of the general population will be followed- up for two outcomes; CHD including acute myocardial infarction or death from coronary heart disease and HF until Dec 31, 2006. Outcomes will be validated through requests to primary care physicians. Incidence rate´ratios of CHD and HF in the two cohorts will be calculated. In the cohort of prostate cancer the relative risk of CHD and HF associated with the use of bicalutamide compared to non-use will be estimated.
This study will evaluate the efficacy of anacetrapib (100 mg) for 24 weeks relative to placebo, on plasma concentrations of Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and assess the safety and tolerability of anacetrapib (100 mg) in participants with CHD/CHD risk-equivalent disease on stable dose regimen of statin with or without other lipid-modifying therapy. The two year extension to this study will further evaluate the long-term safety profile and efficacy of anacetrapib in CHD/CHD-risk equivalent patients who are on ongoing therapy with a statin with or without other lipid-modifying therapy.
Study hypothesis: Multifactorial risk reduction in coronary heart disease can reduce the risk of new coronary heart disease and death
The purpose of this study is to determine if women with chest pain and "clean" heart blood vessels have impaired blood flow to the heart due to problems with the small blood vessels that provide blood and oxygen to the heart. Impairment in the small blood vessels will be tested using ultrasound pictures of the heart, called myocardial contrast echocardiography. Since these small blood vessels are not seen in a coronary angiogram, which is an x-ray of the heart vessels using a dye containing iodine injected in the heart vessels, the problem may remain undiagnosed in women until the heart muscle becomes severely damaged. A second purpose is to identify if there is a common trait in the population of women with this tiny blood vessel dysfunction, which will be investigated by checking blood levels of certain chemical and hormones related to heart disease. Finally, we would like to investigate the relationship between depression and stress, and heart disease. We will do this by measuring cortisol (a hormone that serves as a measure of stress) and administering questionnaires that help to identify depression and stress.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of telcagepant in the treatment of acute migraine in participants with stable vascular disease. Acetaminophen/paracetamol (APAP) will be used as an active comparator in this study. The primary hypothesis of this study is that telcagepant 300 mg is superior to placebo.
A new, innovative software image processing method, wide beam reconstruction (WBR), utilizes resolution recovery and incorporates Poisson noise-reduction into the reconstruction process of NM images. This method facilitates the reconstruction of low count density myocardial perfusion SPECT images. Preliminary research indicates that SPECT acquisition time consequently can be reduced by 60% (less than 5 minutes) for rest and by 75% (just over 3 minutes) for stress, while tomographic image quality is maintained, or even improved. Such a decrease in image acquisition time decreases patient discomfort during the tomographic acquisition, decreases the opportunity for patient motion, and improves laboratory efficiency.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and echocardiography are two imaging methods that are used to obtain pictures of the heart and assess heart function. This study will evaluate a new, four-dimensional echocardiography approach of obtaining heart images to determine if it is as effective at evaluating heart function as MRI.