View clinical trials related to Heart Diseases.
Filter by:To conduct surveillance of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and its correlation with known risk factors in all cohort study groups in Evans County, Georgia.
The Framingham Heart Study was initiated to study the factors associated with the development of cardiovascular disease by employing long-term surveillance of an adult population in Framingham, Massachusetts. The Framingham Offspring Study was initiated to assess familial and genetic factors as determinants of coronary heart disease.
We would like to see if using Carvedilol in adjunct with Ace inhibitors will increase ejection fraction of the heart under echo. All interpretation of data will be sent to Boston Children's Hospital to be reviewed, which is the primary research center in this study. There are 5 hospitals participating in this study. The population targeted are children with moderate heart failure and must be on Ace inhibitors at the time of enrollment. Our outcome after placing them on Carvedilol is to change their ejection fraction on echo. The patients will be seen every 1-2 weeks, while we will titrate their medication to a maintenance dose. Secondary outcome is to increase quality of life, exercise tolerance and decrease their symptom scores as noted on their questionnaires.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether opening an occluded infarcted artery 3-28 days after an acute myocardial infarction in high-risk asymptomatic patients reduces the composite endpoint of mortality, recurrent myocardial infarction, and hospitalization for class IV congestive heart failure over an average 2.9-year follow-up with extended follow up for an average of six years. Long term follow-up of patients were completed in March 2010. Final collection of all regulatory documentation was completed June 2011.
To measure survival to hospital discharge of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in community units (e.g., apartment or office buildings, gated communities, sports venues, senior centers, shopping malls) served by trained non-medical responders using automated external defibrillators (AEDs), an approach called Public Access Defibrillation, compared to units receiving the traditional optimum community standard of care (i.e., rescuers trained to recognize a cardiac emergency, call 911, and initiate CPR).
To determine if the dietary N-3 class of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) provided in the diet largely from marine fish oils would prevent fatal ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF).
To determine the antiarrhythmic effects of dietary N-3 fatty acids in patients with implanted defibrillators.
A series of studies in patients with major depression have consistently demonstrated a doubling of the mortality rate at any age, independent of suicide. In addition, the relative risk for clinically significant coronary artery disease in patients with major depression is also 2 or more in studies that independently controlled for risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, etc. The principal long-term goals of the CNE include the determination of the mechanisms that underlie enhanced susceptibility to premature ischemic heart disease in patients with major depression, documenting the age at which demonstrable pathophysiologic or predictive changes begin to occur, and charting their rate of progression. Our long-term goal is to use our understanding of underlying mechanisms to enhance our capacity to predict who with major depression is most likely to develop premature ischemic heart disease, to determine what the mechanisms underlying this susceptibility are, and to develop improved means for treatment and prevention. Depressed patients are known to manifest a variety of neuroendocrine changes that predispose to coronary artery disease including hypercortisolism, decreased secretion of growth hormone and a deficiency of sex steroids. A final common denominator of these neuroendocrine abnormalities is insulin resistance. Insulin resistance promotes several changes that would favor hypertension and increased coronary artery disease including increased sodium retention, increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system, proliferation of vascular smooth muscle and deposition of highly metabolically active visceral fat. The latter induces additional risk factors for coronary disease, including dyslipidemia, hypercoagulation, and enhanced inflammation. It is a matter of public health importance to document the frequency and severity of insulin resistance in patients with major depression compared to a closely matched group of healthy controls. To accurately quantify insulin resistance in each patient and control, we will apply the hyperinsulinemic euglycemic glucose clamp procedure. This is the gold standard method for measuring the insulin sensitivity since it reflects the direct human body glucose metabolic response to a known insulin infusion. Moreover, it is essential to use this technique in patients with major depression as data indicate that other alternative procedures give unreliable results in the context of hypercortisolism.
Coronary artery disease (CAD) can cause poor blood flow and supply to the heart muscle. It can result in irreversible damage to the heart muscle and poor function. Before treating patients with heart disease it is important to know how well the heart is functioning. Echocardiography is a diagnostic test that can measure heart function. If part of the heart muscle is not working properly due to previous damage, echocardiography can provide information about how much improvement can be expected after treatment (surgery or angioplasty). The purpose of this study is to compare the accuracy of myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) to dobutamine echocardiography to detect the potential for damaged heart muscle to be treated and function in patients with heart disease. Myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) does not use radioactivity. It uses sound waves like standard echocardiography. However, with MCE patients receive an injection of a "contrast agent" directly into the blood stream through a vein. The contrast agent, called Optison, is made of tiny microbubbles smaller than red blood cells. The echocardiogram can detect these microbubbles in the small blood vessels of the heart muscle and allow researchers to find areas of the heart receiving less blood flow than others. Echocardiography with Dobutamine does not use radioactivity. It uses sound waves, like standard echocardiography. During this echocardiogram patients receive doses of a medication called dobutamine that stimulates the heart to beat stronger and faster. Heart muscle that does not beat stronger after dobutamine is probably dead, usually as a result of a previous heart attack.
Genetically inherited heart diseases like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) are conditions affecting the heart passed on to family members by abnormalities in genetic information. These conditions are responsible for many heart related deaths and illnesses. Presently, there are several research studies being conducted in order to improve the understanding of disease processes and symptoms associated with genetically inherited heart diseases. This study is designed to determine the eligibility of patients diagnosed with or suspected to have inherited heart disease to participate in these research studies.