View clinical trials related to Heart Failure.
Filter by:Staying out of the hospital is valued by patients and their caregivers. Their interests converge with those of hospitals now that high 30-day readmission rates for some conditions place hospitals at risk for financial penalties from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This study focuses on developing and testing a program that combines a community health worker (lay patient advocate, acting as a "Patient Navigator") and a peer-led telephone support line to improve patient experience during hospital to home transition.
The purpose of the VANGUARD study is to demonstrate the safety of Vagal Nerve Stimulation for the treatment of congestive heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, and to report secondary measures of efficacy.
Heart failure (HF) is the most common cause of hospitalization in older adults. The month after hospital discharge represents a vulnerable period, when patients are at increased risk of death and readmission to hospital. Research has shown that certain discharge-planning services can reduce death and readmissions, but these have not been widely implemented. In this study, we will group evidence-informed discharge-planning services into 'Patient-centered Care Transitions in HF' (PACT-HF), a model of care that will prepare patients for their transition from hospital to home. Through PACT-HF, patients will benefit from a comprehensive assessment of their health care needs, learn to recognize and manage symptoms of HF, and receive the information and follow-up care needed to optimize their health. We will introduce PACT-HF to 10 Ontario hospitals over a number of time periods using a stepped wedge cluster trial design. We will compare the outcomes (hierarchically ordered) of patients in hospitals with PACT-HF to those in hospitals without PACT-HF. We anticipate that patients hospitalized at the sites with PACT-HF will have fewer readmissions, emergency visits, and deaths after discharge; report a better quality of life; and feel more prepared for discharge. We also anticipate that overall, PACT-HF will reduce health system costs.
The objective of this study is to evaluate myocardial injury, if any, as quantified by cardiac markers (Troponin-T) in defibrillation threshold (DFT) testing during implantation of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) using the upper limit of vulnerability (ULV) method vs. standard defibrillation threshold method.
If a surgical sponge is mistakenly left inside a patient's body after a surgical procedure, it can cause a serious infection. To prevent this from happening, a new device has been developed that uses radiofrequency (RF) signals to detect the presence of surgical sponges inside the body. The device is now being used routinely to make sure that no sponges are left inside a patient at the end of an operation. However, the RF device has not been implemented in procedures for patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs). While the device is FDA approved for use, there is a theoretical concern that the radiofrequency signals used to detect the sponges will change the settings on the pacemaker or the defibrillator. Changing the settings on a pacemaker might make it pace the heart too quickly or too slowly, while changing the settings on a defibrillator might cause unnecessary shocks or prevent it from shocking the heart if the patient were to have cardiac arrest. The purpose of this study is to test whether the radiofrequency device used to detect sponges can cause a clinically significant change to the settings on pacemakers and defibrillators. To minimize potential risk, the device will be tested only on patients who are having the pacemaker or defibrillator removed or replaced as part of their regular medical care, either because it is infected or because the battery has worn out. Before the pacemaker or defibrillator is removed, the settings will be carefully and completely recorded and the radiofrequency device will be used to scan the body for sponges as it would be done during normal operation. After the pacemaker or defibrillator is taken out, the settings will again be recorded and compared to the settings before the scan. In a standard device removal procedure, no clinically significant change in CIED settings would be expected. If a new pacemaker or defibrillator is implanted in the patient, it will not be exposed to the detection device at all. We will also test whether the RF device has any effect on temporary pacemakers that patients may receive after open heart surgery. We plan to perform testing in a total of 50 patients, 40 with permanent pacemakers or defibrillators and 10 with temporary pacemakers.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of rivaroxaban compared with placebo in the prevention of symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE) events and VTE-related death post-hospital discharge in high-risk, medically ill patients.
Heart failure is a serious and common disease. HF is marked by a high rate of preventable hospitalizations through proper care. As such, it is a key target for telemedicine programs. However, currently published data are inconclusive. Investigators propose a multicenter randomized study of innovative telemedicine involving the usual patient monitoring daily weight monitoring, clinical signs and in one of three groups in our study of BNP testing in the patient's home all associated with a regular education reinforcement. The objective is to identify early cardiac decompensation to allow to treat ambulatory and thus prevent the occurrence of more serious events such as death or rehospitalization.
30 obese moderate-to-severe heart failure patients will be randomized to intervention or control in groups of 5-10 subjects. All will receive dietetic advice according to randomization and according to the European Heart Association. Intervention subjects will initiate with 8 weeks low energy diet, 800-1000 kcal/d by formula diet and subsequent four weeks reintroduction to regular foods supplying 1200 kcal/d substituting two daily meals with formula meal replacement. Control subjects are advised to follow the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations. Patients will be monitored by blood sampling and assessed by change in physical performance.
For patients presenting to the Emergency Department with acute dyspnea, emergency physicians will be asked to categorize the diagnosis as acute decompensated heart failure or non-cardiogenic shortness of breath a) after the initial clinical assessment, and b) after performing lung ultrasound (LUS) for LUS arm or after chest radiography (CXR) and natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP) results for CXR arm. All patients will undergo CXR, those enrolled in the LUS arm, after sonographic evaluation. After discharge, the cause of patient's dyspnea will be determined by independent review of the entire medical records performed by two emergency physicians. In case of disagreement, a third expert physician will review entire medical records, and adjudicate the case.
The purpose of the study is to determine the accuracy of non-invasive assessment of LVEDP using the investigational device C.A 2.0.