View clinical trials related to Heart Transplantation.
Filter by:The aims of this 3-year randomized, single-blinded clinical trial are to compare the effect of high and low feedback about performance on the bedside exercise device in heart or liver transplantation recipients during the hospitalization immediately after transplantation. The hypotheses of the study are heart/liver transplantation recipients who have high feedback about performance on the bedside exercise device will progressively increase their level of exercise over the course of their hospitalization, more independent in ambulation level, better walking speed and 6-minute walk test at discharge, and better cardiorespiratory fitness at 4-8 weeks after transplantation than those who receive low feedback. The adult patients who newly receive heart or liver transplantation at National Taiwan University Hospital will be evaluated for eligibility of the study in the acute postoperative period. The study will be conducted in both the intensive care unit and ward environments. The study subjects will be randomized to either high or low feedback about performance on the bedside exercise device which uses hand/foot pedals that record exerted forces against adjustable resistances, measure repetitions of upper and lower extremity cycling movements, and give feedback about performance via a wireless internet connection. The study will also monitor the amount of daily movement activity of all subjects in this trial by using triaxial accelerometers, and the activity recognition algorithms developed by engineers and computer scientists at University of California Los Angeles. The outcome measures include level of independence for walking, walking speed, 6-minute walk test, and cardiopulmonary exercise testing by the blinded observers. The study expects to enroll at least 50 heart transplantation recipients and 60 liver transplantation recipients in 3 years. The results of this study will offer much insight into activity levels of heart or liver transplantation recipients during early postoperative period. Besides, heart transplantation recipients will receive routine phase I cardiac rehabilitation program by the physical therapists during the study but not liver transplantation recipients. We might be able to evaluate the interaction effects of routine physical therapy and UCFit exercise among our study subjects. Our data will also provide insight into just how active or inactive transplantation recipients may be and help generate ideas of organ transplantation rehabilitation program to increase their fitness-related activity prior to discharge.
Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is the major cause of long-term graft failure in heart transplant recipients. Although several immune-mediated and metabolic risk factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of CAV, no effective therapy is currently available to treat established CAV and prevent its adverse outcomes. Therefore, the main clinical strategy is based on prevention and treatment of factors known to trigger its development. Although the mechanism is vague, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is believed to play a key role in CAV progression. Two strategies involving administration of specific anti-CMV agents are recommended for prevention of CMV infection/disease: universal prophylaxis and preemptive therapy. The pros and cons of the two strategies are still debated, in the absence of randomized studies addressing graft-related outcomes and viral mechanisms of graft damage, and without any clear evidence of superiority of either approach. The investigators conceived this randomized prospective project to compare the effect of preemptive anti-CMV strategy with universal anti-CMV prophylaxis on CMV infection and on one-year increase in coronary intimal thickening. Patients will be additionally randomized to receive either mycophenolate mofetil or everolimus, in light of the possible anti-CMV properties of everolimus.
Progressive cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is a serious complication in long-term survivors after heart transplantation. Therefore, we hypothesize that CAV is a diffuse and progressive process, and endothelial function may play an important role in predicting clinical outcome after heart transplantation. Therefore, this single-blinded study is designed to evaluate endothelial function, microvascular flow response and morphology of coronary artery in cardiac allografts, 1. The simultaneous use of IVUS and Doppler wire instrumentation in different pharmacological stress; 2. Tl-201 SPECT (dipyridamole stress/rest); to evaluate the correlation of endothelial function, coronary morphology change and Tl-201 dipyridamole stress myocardial perfusion image.