View clinical trials related to Cardiac Diseases.
Filter by:Development of a new MS-based biomarker for the early and sensitive diagnosis of Pompe disease from blood (plasma)
Endostatin, a 20-kDa cleavage product of collagen XVIII, is a component of the extracellular matrix expressed in the basement membrane. As a potent inhibitor of angiogenesis, endostatin induces endothelial cell apoptosis and diminishes cell migration, adhesion and proliferation. Endostatin may stop the progression of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerotic heart disease involves unwanted tissue growth. By cutting off the blood supply from a plaque the likelihood of plaque rupture may eventually be reduced. Recent data indicates that the loss of collagen XVIII/endostatin is related to the enhancement of neo-vascularization and vascular permeability in atherosclerosis. Plaque neo-vascularization strongly correlates with the regional content of inflammatory cells. Furthermore, increased vascular permeability enhances lipid accumulation in the vessel walls, hence increasing foam cells. Therapeutic angiogenesis is a most promising strategy for the treatment of myocardial infarction. However, it remains unknown if and how endogenous angiogenesis inhibitors, such as endostatin, regulate angiogenesis in myocardial infarction. Rat models showed that after myocardial infarction endostatin neutralization displayed adverse left ventricular remodeling and severe heart failure compared with controls. Although angiogenesis was increased, tissue remodeling and interstitial fibrosis were further exaggerated in post-myocardial infarction hearts by endostatin neutralization. However, several studies suggest that endostatin may locally modulate coronary collateral formation by inhibiting collateral vessel formation in patients with ischemic heart disease. During treadmill exercise tests in healthy volunteers a significant increase in circulating endostatin levels can be observed. Exercise induces angiogenesis in cardiac and skeletal muscles by decreasing endostatin in the muscle tissues to increase blood flow to these metabolically active tissues. Thereby endostatin is released into the general circulation. In summary, endostatin might be a new weapon to fight against atherosclerotic progression by inhibiting neo-vascularization of atherosclerotic plaques.
- Background : Ephrin-B1 is part of the large Eph/Ephrin system which is involved in cell-cell comunication. The role of Ephrin-B1 has scarcely been studied in adulthood. Our team has shown that this protein is expressed in normal heart in mice and humans. In mice with deletion of the gene encoding Ephrin-B1, we have shown progressive development of dilated cardiomyopathy characterized by dramatic disorganization of cardiac tissue architecture and decreased heart rate variability. - Purpose: Ephrin-B1 protein was recently identified in human heart but its putative role remains unknown. In knockout mice, deletion of efn gene is associated with abnormalities in cardiac architecture linked to defects in cell-cell tight junctions. From a functional point of view, mice develop a dilated cardiomyopathy and exhibit decreased heart rate variability in the frequency domain. The purpose of this study is to assess if Ephrin-B1 expression is regulated in human heart and if expression level correlates with heart rate variability. - Abstract: Thirty patients suffering from cardiac disease needing surgery will be included and separated in two groups according to pressure levels in right auricle /and or pulmonary artery. Ephrin-B1 expression will be assessed in right appendages at both the transcriptional (quantitative PCR) and protein (Western blot) levels. Furthermore, the putative relationship between Ephrin-B1 expression and heart rate variability (24 hours ECG recordings) will be investigated.
The cardiac output (CO) is an important parameter in the diagnosis and therapy of cardiac diseases. The current standard methods for the determination of the CO, however, are either invasive (e.g. right heart catheterization) or technically expendable and expensive (magnetic resonance tomography, MRT). Therefore the aim of the study at hand was to evaluate the electrical velocimetry technique as a new method for determining the CO and to compare this new technique with the Inert Gas Rebreathing Method and with the Magnetic Resonance Tomography
A new, innovative software image processing method, wide beam reconstruction (WBR), utilizes resolution recovery and incorporates Poisson noise-reduction into the reconstruction process of NM images. This method facilitates the reconstruction of low count density myocardial perfusion SPECT images. Preliminary research indicates that SPECT acquisition time consequently can be reduced by 60% (less than 5 minutes) for rest and by 75% (just over 3 minutes) for stress, while tomographic image quality is maintained, or even improved. Such a decrease in image acquisition time decreases patient discomfort during the tomographic acquisition, decreases the opportunity for patient motion, and improves laboratory efficiency.
The cardiac output (CO) is an important parameter in the diagnosis and therapy of cardiac diseases. The current standard methods for the determination of the CO, however, are either invasive (e.g. right heart catheterization) or technically expendable and expensive (magnetic resonance tomography, MRT). The traditional non-invasive methods of determining the CO by rebreathing of carbon dioxide are easily carried out but suffer from methodical inaccuracies. Therefore the aim of the study at hand was to evaluate a new method for determining the CO by means of the inert gas rebreathing method.
The purpose of the study is to help determine if either crystalloid solution or colloid solution is more advantageous as a resuscitative fluid in post-operative pediatric cardiac patients.
Myocardial scintigraphy with 123I-MIBG allows for visual and semi-quantitative assessment of sympathetic cardiac innervation using the hear to mediastinum ratio (HMR). Impaired cardiac MIBG clearance may occur in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). The purpose of present study was to develop and validate a quantitative index for the assessment of cardiac MIBG uptake kinetics using SPECT/CT for diagnosis of CHF
This is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind trial, comparing clinical outcomes after the administration of high-dose dexamethasone versus placebo in patients undergoing heart surgery with the use of cardiopulmonary bypass. The primary endpoint is the occurrence of major complications (including all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, stroke, renal failure, and prolonged mechanical ventilation) in the first 30 days after surgery.
The purpose of the project was to test the widely endorsed assumption that pedometers produce or encourage more physical activity participation in the form of walking. The investigators hypothesized that pedometers would not increase the amount of walking cardiac patients participated in after their cardiac rehabilitation program compared to patients without pedometers.