View clinical trials related to Cardiomyopathies.
Filter by:Arrhythmias remain a major health problem, causing at least 250,000 deaths annually in the United States. Pharmacological treatments often do more harm than good, and device therapies are limited by high cost and effects on quality of life. Ion channel mutations cause rare inherited arrhythmopathies, but account for only a small fraction of patients with life- threatening arrhythmias and sudden death. Most arrhythmias occur during myocardial ischemia, following myocardial infarction, and in patients with poor left ventricular (LV) function of any etiology. Aside from ejection fraction (EF), few clinically useful indicators to stratify the risk of sudden death have been identified. The role of subtle difference in ion channel expression and/or structure in predisposing patients to arrhythmias and modulating the risk of sudden death is unknown. In this study, we are prospectively testing whether polymorphisms in ion channels and ion channel modifying genes are associated with arrhythmias in a population with internal cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) and poor LV function. We will test the hypothesis that functional polymorphisms in the coding sequences and promoter regions of cardiac genes (e.g. ion channels, beta-adrenergic receptors) predispose individuals to arrhythmias and /or heart failure progression. We hope to identify genetic predictors for the common forms of sudden cardiac death. This would allow the identification of a subpopulation of heart failure patients that would benefit most from ICD placement.
As the indications for Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator implantation expand, minimizing implant time is critical. Also, patients receiving biventricular ICDs are sometimes more unstable and minimization of sedation time is crucial. Multiple induction attempts, with a 1-Joule shock, can cause disruption in lead position. Therefore limiting the number of attempts will allow for better lead stability throughout the procedure and a more straightforward implant process. Investigator proposes a detailed documentation of success rates from various Ventriculart Fibrillation induction methods during implant of Medtronic defibrillation capable devices.
Detecting abnormalities in the left ventricular mechanical and hemodynamic response to the stress of exercise may offer early diagnostic indicators in patients suffering from valvular disease such as mitral regurgitation. Ultrasound-based imaging methods have been gaining importance in providing prognosis among those patients. However, decreased signal to noise ratio in the images and increased motion-related artifacts during exercise stress echocardiography have been reported, with a lack of reproducibility of results and a the limitation of its availability only in reference centers. In our laboratory, we are able to perform supine bicycle exercise MRI (1.5 T) using the Lode ergometer mounted on the far end of the patient table, previously described in healthy volunteers. The first aim of our study is to demonstrate the safety and the feasibility of our MRI protocol in selected patients with asymptomatic severe organic mitral regurgitation, to assess left ventricular volumes and function, and regurgitant volume in comparison to exercise cardiac echography. Besides, few recent studies sustain the relevance of novel markers of central aortic function (compliance, distensibility and pulse wave velocity) assessed by noninvasive MRI to explore vascular aging. In monogenic connective tissue diseases, altered arterial stiffness is the premature signature of the disease in asymptomatic patients. Noninvasive evaluation of aortic stiffness would be useful for risk assessment and preventive follow-up strategies in young asymptomatic relatives of subjects with aortic inherited diseases, such as syndromic and non-syndromic familial forms of thoracic aortic aneurysm and /or dissection. Furthermore, this technique should be able to evaluate the effect of drugs on aortic stiffness change in trials, before and after drug therapy, more relevant than the classic change in aortic diameter measurement. The second aim of our study is 1) to provide the sensibility of our MRI protocol to estimate local and regional heterogeneity in aortic functional parameters (distensibility, compliance and PWV) 2) to evaluate the predictive value of these regional aortic parameters assessed by MRI to diagnose and to stratify the aortopathy related to presymptomatic Marfan patients and to bicuspid aortic valve in young adults, in comparison to carotids-femoral pulse wave velocity estimation by applanation tonometry.
The primary objective for this study is to evaluate the efficacy of doxycycline + ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) on disease progression in Transthyretin Amyloidosis (ATTR) subjects with cardiomyopathy with or without neuropathy.
This prospective single-center study is an observational risk stratification trial in about 250 patients with standard indications for ICD treatment. Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) have been shown to improve survival and current guidelines recommend their use for primary and secondary prevention of sudden cardiac death (SCD). However, a large number of patients never receive an appropriate therapy from their device. In contrast, electrical sorm and multiple ICD shocks occur in other patients. Thus, identification of predictors for survival or ICD shocks is necessary for improved patient selection and optimized therapeutic strategies. Risk stratification with electrocardiogram (ECG) and signal averaged ECG (SAECG), T-wave alternans (TWA) and Holter ECG including premature ventricular contractions (PVC), non-sustained VT (nsVT), heart rate variability (HRV), heart rate turbulence (HRT) and deceleration capacity, as well as clinical variables is possible, but not implemented in clinical routine in patients with ischemic or dilated cardiomyopathy and newly implanted ICD for primary or secondary prevention of SCD following current guidelines. Patients will be prospectively followed and the predictive value of the risk markers mentioned above to predict all-cause mortality or appropriate ICD shocks will be investigated.
This Phase 3 study will investigate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of an oral daily dose of 20 mg or 80 mg tafamidis meglumine capsules compared to placebo in subjects with either transthyretin genetic variants or wild-type transthyretin resulting in amyloid cardiomyopathy.
We hope to introduce a novel MRI contrast agent with SeeM ore ™ that directly defines viable myocardium. Identifying viable myocardium non-invasively using cardiac MRI is still a moving target and a question we plan to answer more definitively with the SeeMore ™ contrast. Though well tested. in small and large animals and Phase I & II clinical trials, we would like to determine the efficacy of the SeeM ore TM contrast further in a clinical setting. SeeM ore ™ is a new manganese (Mn)-based intravenous imaging agent being developed to enhance magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). While Mn has long been known to have desirable magnetic and kinetic properties for MRI, use in humans was not initially possible due to cardiovascular depression and electrocardiogram (ECG)changes, including prolongation of PR and QTc intervals, associated with intravenous administration [1-5]. Chelation of Mn, as had been done with gadolinium for use with MRI, provided relevant safety, but sacrificed desirable magnetic and kinetic properties [6]. SeeM ore rM provides Mn in a form that maintains the desired magnetic and kinetic properties while overcoming the cardiovascular toxicity of Mn. SeeM ore rM is taken up into heart cells .(primarily via addition of calcium to avoid cardiotoxic effects; please refer to US patent #5,980,863). The potential to distinguish healthy heart tissue from unhealthy heart tissue based on a specific sustained pattern of enhancement provides a basis for evaluating the performance of SeeM ore rM in heart patients. MRI offers benefits over other imaging technologies. Relative to radioactive nuclear imaging procedures, MRI is 3-dimensional, provides good soft tissue discrimination, and is of high spatial and temporal resolution. These features have been reported to identify smaller defects (e.g., subendocardial infarcts) and match angiographic results more closely than other modalities such as SPECT [7,8]. It may be possible to enhance the utility of MRI for heart disease further through the use of an imaging agent that is specifically taken up into heart cells. SeeM ore rM is the only cardiac-specific agent being developed for this purpose. Unlike nuclear perfusion agents, SeeM ore rM is not radioactive and does not require special handling, shielding, transport or storage. In addition, the specific pattern of enhancement achieved in the heart muscle persists over time, offering potential .benefits over the nonspecific extracellular agents currently available for MRI or X-ray/CT procedures. This feature allows full use of the high resolution of MRI, since there is not a trade-off of high spatial resolution for temporal (first-pass) resolution. It is anticipated the features offered by SeeMore™ along with the high resolution, three dimensional attributes of MRI will result in higher accuracy than is available with other current modalities in practice, including stress echocardiograms, cardiac MRI using gadolinium contrast and nuclear studies such as SPECT and PET. This will be evaluated in this study and serve as the basis for pivotal registration studies. All components of SeeMore™ are USP and are approved for use as drugs in man, orally and/or intravenously. A summary of the Phase I safety and PK (pharmacokinetics)study are provided below. The Phase I study evaluated the safety and tolerance of SeeM ore ™ in humans, with special emphasis on cardiovascular safety, and assessed its PK profile.
The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of left ventricular lead pacing location in the non-left bundle branch block (non-LBBB) heart failure patient population. The left ventricular lead pacing location will be guided by either the pacing site with the largest amount of dyssynchrony as measured by the LV electrical delay (QLV) or the physician's standard of care implant approach.
This trial is a double-blind randomized clinical trial of lisinopril versus losartan for the treatment of cardiomyopathy in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Both drugs are known to be effective for the treatment of dilated cardiomyopathy. ACEi have been reported to delay the onset and progression of left ventricle dysfunction in children with DMD. Multiple studies show therapeutic efficacy of losartan in animals with cardiomyopathy related to muscular dystrophy and in patients with cardiomyopathy from diverse causes. ARBs are often reserved for patients in whom heart failure is not adequately treated or where side effects preclude the use of an ACEi. However, in DMD, losartan might be a better choice as a first line drug because of studies demonstrating a potential benefit for skeletal muscle in the mdx mouse. Considering that both skeletal and cardiac muscles are major contributors of the disability of DMD, a drug that could improve both heart and skeletal muscles simultaneously would need consideration as the drug of choice for the cardiomyopathic DMD patient.
Cardiac resynchronization therapy may reduce central sleep apnea, but there is no prospective randomized study so far demonstrating such an effect in patients with conventional pacemaker undergoing upgrading to CRT because of heart failure.