View clinical trials related to Atherosclerosis.
Filter by:Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death in the developed world. Atherosclerosis causes plaques in the blood vessels and is a common form of CVD. Inflammation is now recognized as a major cause of atherosclerosis. Therapies that target inflammation are being examined as a potential treatment option. Imaging to detect inflammation may be a solution to understand mechanisms and to optimize patient selection and outcomes for these drugs. Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET imaging can detect inflammation in the plaque and identify patients vulnerable to plaque rupture which cause events such as myocardial infarctions (MI) and strokes. The primary objective of this proposal(CADENCE) is to determine if the drug colchicine has an effect on plaque inflammation in patients at high risk for events (patients with diabetes or pre-diabetes and recent myocardial infarction, stroke or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs)). This mechanistic and proof-of-concept study will set the stage for future studies that will determine if inflammation imaging can be integrated into clinical practice to personalize decisions for anti-inflammation therapies.
In this randomized double-blinded clinical trial, 400mg of hydroxychloroquine will be given daily to people over the age of 65 years with moderate-severe obstructive sleep apnea for 8 weeks. The aim of this study is to test whether hydroxychloroquine can improve endothelial function.
In a large number of patients who had a heart attack, multiple narrowings of the coronary arteries are identified. It is common practice to treat the narrowing that is the cause of the heart attack with a stent. It is not yet clearly known if the other narrowings in the other coronary arteries have to be treated immediately with a stent as well. "Bad" cholesterol (LDL-cholesterol) can speed up the formation of these coronary artery narrowings, and can thus make the risk of a second heart attack bigger. The investigators want to investigate if treating patients with the new cholesterol-lowering drug Evolocumab on top of the normal cholesterol lowering therapy (statins) ameliorates blood flow through coronary artery narrowings. Better blood flow through these narrowings could prevent the need for stenting or surgery in the future.
This study aims to assess the prevalence and severity of dementia in an established cohort of community-dwelling older adults living in three neighboring rural Ecuadorian villages (Atahualpa, El Tambo, and Prosperidad), as well as to evaluate clinical and neuroimaging correlates of dementia in the study population. By the use of the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDRS), the study also aims to assess the lower cutoff of the MoCA that better correlates with the occurrence of dementia in the study population. In addition, this study will provides grounds for the initiation of a prospective cohort study to assess factors influencing the development of dementia in the follow-up.
Advancing Postmenopausal Preventive Therapy (APPT) is a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial designed to determine the effects of tissue selective estrogen complex (TSEC) therapy on the progression of subclinical atherosclerosis and cognitive decline in 360 healthy postmenopausal women.
Cross-over double-blind study. Healthy subjects will be exposed to diesel exhaust fumes and/or filtered air during a 2-hour session. Several parameters will be assesed i.e. endothelial function will be assessed with flow mediated dilation (FMD) techniques, arterial stiffness with pulse wave velocity (PWV) and reflected waves with augmentation index (AIx). C reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, protein C levels and protein S activity will be also measured. Heart rate variability and standard deviation of normal to normal intervals R-R intervals (SDNN) will be used to assess sympathetic activity. Measurements were assessed before, 2 and 24 hours after diesel exposure.
MicroRNA-210 (miR-210) can be a potential therapeutic target of patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Recent evidence suggests the role of miR-210 and oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of PAD and its association with mitochondrial function, oxidative metabolism, walking distances and quality of life. The protocol evaluates the mechanisms which miR-210 regulates oxidative stress and provides evidence of potential therapeutic strategies.
Inflammation drives atherosclerotic plaque rupture triggering most acute coronary syndromes. Despite advances in diagnosis and management of atherosclerosis, patients with myocardial infarction (MI) remain at increased risk of recurrent events. The RIPPLE study aims to examine the relationship between residual coronary inflammation detected by 68Ga-DOTATATE PET in patients treated for MI to long-term plaque progression measured by CT coronary angiography (CTCA). The association between infarct-related myocardial 68Ga-DOTATATE PET and myocardial function and viability will also be assessed.
While 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging has been used as an early marker of drug efficacy in numerous clinical cardiovascular drug trials, as a glucose analog, its signal in the vasculature lacks inflammatory cell-specificity. Moreover, high background 18F-FDG signals from the myocardium often preclude coronary artery imaging, despite attempts to suppress myocardial tracer uptake by dietary manipulation. These limitations of 18F-FDG for measuring changes in vascular inflammation arising from drug intervention highlight important unmet needs, which might be overcome by using a somatostatin receptor subtype-2 (SST2) PET tracer.
Although the impact of postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT) on cardiovascular disease risk has been studied in several large randomized trials, little is known about the acute cardiovascular consequences of HT discontinuation. In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, the investigators will compare the cardiovascular consequences of abrupt and tapered modes of HT discontinuation in 150 Finnish healthy postmenopausal women under age 60 years. The primary outcome is brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation. In addition, biochemical markers will be measured during the study period of 20 weeks. Health-related quality of life, frequency of hot flush recurrence and other menopausal symptoms will be also assessed in these groups. The trial will provide new high-quality information about the cardiovascular safety as well as the correct timing and method of HT discontinuation.