View clinical trials related to Heart Failure.
Filter by:Heart failure remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Many patients with heart failure receive support from a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) at some point in the course of their disease. Some of these LVAD patients experience a durable recovery after ventricular unloading with an LVAD, which may be associated with inhibition of inflammatory cytokines. This small pilot study aims to determine the biologic and clinical efficacy of an interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (Anakinra) at inducing myocardial recovery in patients supported with left ventricular assist devices.
Introduction: Heart Failure (HF) generates multiple hospital admissions and mortality, which are reduced with the administration of Beta-Blocker (BB), Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitor (ACEI), Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker (ARB) and Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonist (MRA) drugs (Level of Evidence A). The effect is dose-dependent. Nevertheless, dosages are suboptimal. European Guidelines 2012 recommend close monitoring and up-titration of drugs by HF nurses. Trials are needed to evaluate their effectiveness and safety. Objective: To compare doses achieved by patients of BB, ACEI, ARB II and MRA in 4 months ( % relative to target doses) in the intervention group (HF nurse) and in the control group ( cardiologist), adverse events, Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF), New York Heart Association (NYHA), 6 min. walking test, quality of life, Nt-proBNP, readmissions and mortality. Hypothesis: Non-inferiority. Design: Multicenter randomized controlled trial. New ("de novo") HF patients with LVEF ≤ 40%, NYHA II-III, without contraindications to BB of 17 Spanish hospitals will be included. Intervention: The cardiologist prescribes drugs and, driven by protocol, the HF nurse implements the up-titration. In the control group doses are decided by the cardiologist clinical support and education being provided by nurses. Variables: age, sex, education, psycho-social level, Cardio Vascular Risk Factors (CVRF), NYHA, LVEF, ischemic cardiopathy., N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (Nt-proBNP), 6min. walking test, Creatinine/Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR), Potassium (K), haemoglobin, Blood Pressure (BP), Heart Rate (HR), mg./drug, European Heart Failure Self-Care Behaviour Scale (EHFScBS), Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire (MLHFQ), European Quality of life Scale (EQ-5D). Expected Results: If our hypothesis were confirmed, evidence would be provided on the effectiveness of this healthcare management, that could be economically evaluated in future studies. A qualitative study also will be undertaken to explore barriers and facilitators to implementation
Effective diuresis is the primary goal of most acute decompensated heart failure hospitalizations, but diuretic resistance is common and our ability to detect it is limited. Further, there are therapeutically distinct groups of diuretic-resistant patients. These are not easily distinguished using currently available methods, leading to trial-and-error based treatment that promotes lengthy hospitalizations. The aims of this study are: 1. To develop inexpensive and efficient tools to predict diuretic response 2. To understand the prevalence of therapeutically targetable mechanisms of diuretic resistance using endogenous lithium clearance 3. To develop methodology to differentiate diuretic resistance mechanisms using common/inexpensive laboratory tests 4. To provide proof of concept that mechanistically tailored diuretic therapy can improve natriuresis
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if heart function remains normal after stopping heart failure medication in patients who have received chemotherapy.
The purpose of this study is to better understand how adaptive cardiac resynchronization therapy (aCRT) might benefit patients. aCRT works by sometimes giving stimulation to only the left side of the heart, rather than to both sides, depending on how it senses the heart is functioning. CRT without the adaptive algorithm works by giving stimulation to both sides of the heart. aCRT has already been approved by the FDA and is being used in patients now, but it is not clear which patients it should be used in compared to normal CRT. This study will include patients who are already scheduled to get a CRT device. The investigators will then randomize patients to the aCRT study arm or to the CRT study arm. After 6 months, the investigators will assess the electrical activity of the patients' hearts. After this time, the patient and their doctors will be able to decide if they would like to change the type CRT they have been designated.
SITUATION ON RESEARCH Diastolic heart failure (HF) or heart failure with preserved systolic function (SF) is the primary cause of heart failure in the elderly (over 2/3 of heart failure in patients over 60 years). Its main cause is hypertension. The diagnosis of diastolic heart failure is still controversial in clinical practice. It is based on ultrasound and biological criteria (or MRI). Basically, it is concerned patients making acute pulmonary edema with preserved SF and high BNP. It is now recognized that the "primum movens" of this type of HF is increased myocardial stiffness secondary to LVH. Noninvasive assessment of this parameter would allow a more accurate and reliable diagnosis because not dependent on load conditions unlike the ejection fraction (EF) and trans-mitral Doppler. However, the absence of non-invasive tool for the direct evaluation of the diastolic stiffness (so-called passive) prevents to date to use this diagnostic parameter. The investigators propose here to evaluate noninvasively myocardial stiffness in elderly patients with diastolic heart failure using a new imaging tool that uses an innovative ultrasonic technology, the ultrafast echo associated with its elastography function "ShearWave Imaging" (SWI). The investigators work for several years in collaboration with the Langevin Institute on this technology which was recently validated in experimental models. Its principle is based on the creation of a shear wave from a standard ultrasound and calculating the velocity of this wave with the high time resolution of the ultrasound probe, this being correlated with the speed myocardial stiffness. The human study was recently made possible by the development of a phased array probe having the opportunity to work with elastography mode (SWI). PURPOSE OF RESEARCH The goal will be to demonstrate the interest of the non-invasive evaluation by ultrafast echo (SWI) of myocardial stiffness in the diagnosis of diastolic heart failure in the elderly.
Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) are a leading cause of serious complications and death following major noncardiac surgery. The heart biomarkers brain-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and high-sensitivity troponin I/T (hs-TnI/T), may aid in estimating the risk of surgery - low values may permit identifying patients at a very low risk of postoperative complications, potentially helping to avoid unnecessary tests and delays prior to surgery. Recent studies suggest that the manner in which an anesthetic is conducted may have an important impact on postoperative outcomes. The combination of low blood pressure (BP) and a deep level of anesthesia despite a low dose of anesthetic - also known as a "triple low" - has been linked to increased complications and death following surgery. However, it is unclear whether triple lows actually cause postoperative complications or whether they are merely an indicator of a sick patient, who is in general more likely to suffer from cardiovascular events in the near future. To answer this question, in this study patients will be randomly assigned to groups with lower and higher blood pressures, and the postoperative rates of major adverse cardiovascular events and of relevant increases in hs-TnI (a marker of cardiac injury) compared. Another important question is that of the optimal blood pressure target during surgery. Currently there are no established methods of tailoring blood pressure management to the individual patient. In the study the investigators will perform ambulatory 24h BP measurements prior to surgery to measure the patients' average BP during sleep. In the analysis of the study data, the investigators will try to determine the relationship of preoperative biomarker levels, intraoperative BP (both in relation to fixed targets and to the patient's own night-time BP) and of anesthetic depth with the occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events after surgery.
The purpose of this study is to examine the relative predictive ability of the derived monitoring instrument to determine post discharge instability and 30-day outcomes in patients discharged with HF. The primary hypothesis is that variables in the monitoring instrument, individually and combined, identify risk for 30-day outcomes. Clinical indicators of dyspnea, fatigue, orthopnea, dyspnea with exertion, daily weight, edema, heart rate, blood pressure, mental condition, medication adherence, and overall well-being will be reported by participants on a daily basis and considered indicators for 30-day outcomes of stability, re-hospitalization, or mortality.
Heart failure from myocardial iron deposition is a severe complication for patients with hematological disorders who need repeated blood transfusions. Increased cardiac iron content impacts the contractility of cardiomyocytes and can also lead to myocarditis, pericarditis, and arrhythmias. The severity of cardiac dysfunction depends on the amount of iron deposited in the myocardium. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is used as noninvasive method to evaluate the amount of iron in the heart. Myocardial T2* value has been shown to correlate well with biopsy-derived iron concentration in the heart, and myocardial T2* values less than 20ms (indicating elevated iron) were found to be associated with LV dysfunction and improve in concert with LV function during recovery. The majority of the recent studies about myocardial iron overload and the effect of iron chelation therapy were focused on patients with transfusion-dependent hematological disorder, especially beta-thalassemia major. The objective of this 3-year project is to evaluate myocardial iron deposition in patients with heart failure, induced by variable causes. With myocardial T2* imaging, the investigators will analyze the decreased signal intensity in the ventricular septum and quantitatively acquire the T2* value as marker for myocardial iron deposition. The first year is a cross-sectional study. The investigators aim to compare the severity of myocardial iron deposition of normal subjects and that of stable HF patients in recovery with normal or impaired ejection fraction (EF). Total 60 subjects will be enrolled, with 20 subjects in each group. In the 2nd and 3rd years, the investigators plan a prospective longitudinal study of 40 subjects. Enrolled patients will be evaluated with cardiac T2* imaging at three time points, i.e., disease onset, 6 months and one year after treatment, and will be followed up until the end of this project (1.5~3-year follow up). In total 120 MR scans will be performed in the 2nd and 3rd years. The presence and severity of myocardial iron deposition will be correlated with the disease course, patient biochemistry data and clinical outcome.
Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) has been documented to be a powerful treatment in patients with severe congestive heart failure. However, 30-40% of patients receiving a CRT are non-responders. In this study the investigators will use a previously validated method to estimate myocardial segment work non-invasively by speckle-tracking echocardiography and blood pressure. Furthermore, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) will be performed in feasible subjects. The main purpose of the study is to determine if myocardial work by echocardiography in combination with viability assessment by LGE-CMR can predict response to CRT.