View clinical trials related to Heart Failure.
Filter by:This is a retrospective chart review examining our experience with carvedilol in CHF secondary to left-to-right heart shunt lesions. The treatment group will be children who have received carvedilol. The control or comparison groups will be patients who have received either digoxin/furosemide or captopril for this indication. Charts will be reviewed of patients who have been treated at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and as outpatients by Sibley Heart Center Cardiology between September 2000 and October 2005. Patients will have been started on carvedilol prior to April 1, 2005 and only information up to October 1, 2005 will be used for this study. We will review approximately 50 charts for this study. We will evaluate the effectiveness of these medications at reducing symptoms of CHF.
Breast cancer is very common and afflicts 1 in 9 North American women. The treatment of breast cancer often requires the use of chemotherapy including "anthracyclines". Anthracyclines can damage the heart resulting in heart failure and even death. Clinicians and researchers are continually seeking methods that will reduce the toxic effects of anthracycline treatment. L-carnitine is a substance that is produced naturally in the body and is required for normal heart function. Animal studies have suggested that L-carnitine protects the heart from the effects of anthracyclines, however this has not been verified in humans. This study will assess the potential role of L-carnitine in the prevention of anthracycline induced heart damage. The investigators will enroll 144 patients into this study. Patients will be randomly assigned to L-carnitine therapy or to standard care (no L-carnitine therapy). Patients in the L-carnitine group will receive oral and intravenous L-carnitine prior to and after their anthracycline therapy. Patients will undergo regular follow up and testing to assess heart function. The investigators believe that patients treated with L-carnitine will benefit and have fewer complications associated with anthracycline treatment.
To determine the clinical utility of using the Triage® BNP Test to guide therapy in outpatients with heart failure
Anthracycline-based chemotherapy is a key point of the treatment of patients with Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. However, cumulative doses are limited by cardiotoxicity, resulting in a marked left ventricular function impairment that may lead to heart failure. The standard clinical approach to monitoring for anthracycline cardiotoxicity is based on cardiac function monitoring using echocardiography or radionuclide angiography. The aim of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of biochemical markers of cardiac injury (troponin and NT-proBNP) and structural changes on cardiac MR in predicting anthracycline cardiotoxicity.
Heart failure induces modification in several neurohormonal systems. The aim of this study is to determine if the growth hormone/IGF1 axis is modified in heart failure patients compared to healthy volunteers.
The purpose of this study is to compare the benefit of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT)-therapy in patients with a QRS-complex of 120-150 ms to patients with a QRS-complex of > 150 ms.
The Medtronic InSync III Marquis Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillator (CRT-D)-System (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator with biventricular stimulation for cardiac resynchronization) is equipped with the "Conducted-Atrial Fibrillation (AF)-Response-Algorithm (CAFR)". This algorithm is designed to maximize biventricular stimulation and thus the amount of cardiac resynchronization when atrial fibrillation occurs. The goal of the study is the evaluation of the effect of the CAFR in CRT-patients suffering from atrial fibrillation by quantification of the increase of biventricular pacing during atrial fibrillation caused by CAFR as well as the influence of the CAFR on the ventricular heart rate.
The purpose of this study protocol is to evaluate the blood concentrations of levosimendan when administered at different doses clinically employed during cardiopulmonary bypass or cardiac manipulation during off pump surgery in patients who require the drug for inotropic support (improved heart function) and the associated hemodynamic variables (vital signs). Levosimendan is one of the first agents in a new class of drugs used to treat heart failure and works via a unique mechanism called calcium sensitization, that makes the heart beat more efficiently. Levosimendan also has unique effects on the blood vessels, as well as causing relaxation, an important therapeutic approach of heart failure therapy.
The goal of X-Change HF is to estimate the effect of biventricular stimulation in patients who need antibradycardia ventricular stimulation (more than 80%); are eligible for the exchange of an old pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD); and have ventricular dysfunction (left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF] < 35%). All patients eligible for participation in the study will be upgraded with a cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT)-device and receive either right ventricular or biventricular stimulation in a crossover protocol. The endpoint is functional performance measured by spiroergometry.
Patients with congestive heart failure are usually treated with a combination of an ACE inhibitor (or an AT1 blocking agent), a diuretic and a beta-blocker. However, some patients remain symptomatic despite an optimal treatment with these drugs. In patients who also have coronary heart disease, nitrates or some calcium-channel blockers could help to relieve symptoms. Therefore, the aim of our study is to evaluate the additional benefit induced by a second generation calcium-channel blocker, amlodipine, in patients with chronic heart failure who remain symptomatic despite an optimal treatment.