View clinical trials related to Diastolic Heart Failure.
Filter by:Diastolic heart failure is now being recognized as a key form of heart failure in older people. The focus of this research is to study ways to improve and maintain physical activity and functioning. This knowledge may improve the health and well-being in people with diastolic heart failure.
The purpose of this study is to create a classification system for the heterogenous disorder of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).
Heart failure with preserved systolic function (HF-PSF, or 'diastolic heart failure') accounts for half of hospitalizations for heart failure in patients over the age of 65. Most HF-PSF patients have systemic hypertension (HTN), and characteristic HTN-induced cardiovascular changes contribute to HF-PSF. However, it is unclear why most patients with HTN never develop HF-PSF or which specific aspects of HTN predispose to HF-PSF. In the Dahl S rat, the primary animal model of HF-PSF, high dietary sodium intake suppresses the systemic renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, but upregulates renal and cardiac renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system by inducing oxidative stress. In humans, the magnitude of blood pressure response to sodium ingestion and depletion can categorize subjects as "salt-resistant" and "salt-sensitive." Human salt sensitivity is associated with structural and loading conditions that increase the risk for HF-PSF, including HTN, ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction, arterial stiffening, and increased plasma volume. High dietary sodium intake induces oxidative stress in salt-sensitive humans. In humans with HTN and normal ventricular systolic function that do not have heart failure, increased oxidative stress predicts impaired exercise capacity, ventricular hypertrophy, diastolic dysfunction, arterial stiffening, and vascular endothelial dysfunction. The investigators have proposed that "salt sensitivity" and the accompanying oxidative stress on the typical high-sodium Western diet may contribute to the initiation and progression of HF-PSF. In patients with HF-PSF, the investigators will relate dietary changes to biochemical and cardiovascular functional measures. The investigators will study subjects on ad-lib diet and and following three weeks of rigorous dietary modification with the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)/sodium-restricted diet (SRD). This diet is richer in natural antioxidants and lower in sodium than the usual American diet. The DASH/SRD is recommended to lower blood pressure in patients with HTN, and is particularly effective in elderly, obese, and salt-sensitive hypertensives. Dietary sodium restriction is recommended for all HF patients including those with HF-PSF. The investigators hypothesize that the DASH/SRD will have favorable effects on oxidative stress, ventricular and vascular function, and blood pressure control in patients with hypertensive HF-PSF.
This study is to look at the differences between people who have evidence of abnormal heart relaxation (diastolic dysfunction) on sound wave pictures of the heart (an echocardiogram) compared to those who do not. If you have abnormal relaxation, it can be a cause of shortness of breath or can be present without knowing about it. A condition known as oxidative stress mayb e associated with this abnormal relaxation. This condition occurs when abnormal oxygen injures heart cells. We would like to learn if patients with abnormal relaxation have increased oxidative stress.
Up to half of all patients with clinical features of heart failure are found to have normal heart pumping function. Recently the investigators have shown that a drug called perhexiline markedly improved exercise capacity and symptoms in patients with heart failure associated with impaired cardiac pump function. In this proposal the investigators will assess whether perhexiline has beneficial effects in patients with heart failure and a normal heart pumping function.
This study is being conducted to compare the effects that 2 different combinations of heart failure medications have on the levels of certain blood markers which cause and/or worsen heart failure. Additionally, the investigators will investigate any differences that may exist between Hispanics and Non-Hispanics. The investigators hope to find that Hispanic Americans will have a greater response to this new regimen compared to non-Hispanic Americans.
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the medicine ivabradine, a novel drug which slows the heart rate has a favourable effect on patients with diastolic heart failure. Ivabradine is a specific heart rate-lowering agent. It has a licence for treating patients with angina who are intolerant of agents such as beta blockers or whose angina is not adequately controlled. It has been shown to prolong exercise tolerance in these patients and to reduce the frequency of chest pain. Its mechanism of action is felt to be purely due to reducing heart rate, by as much as 10 beats per minute at rest, as well as by reducing the heart rate response to exercise. Patients with diastolic heart failure often complain of breathlessness on exertion which relates to the stiffness or lack of compliance of their heart i.e. the heart fails to relax rapidly enough to allow it to fill with blood between each heart beat. This may result in high pressure in the heart chamber which backs up in to the lungs and may be experienced as breathlessness. There is little evidence that any specific therapy benefits patients with this type of heart failure besides treating coexisting problems such as high blood pressure or angina. By slowing the heart rate down with ivabradine, the heart would have a longer time to fill during exercise which would make it more effective. This slowing of the heart rate may therefore relieve the breathlessness experienced on activity such as walking to the shops or up a flight of stairs etc.
Over the past few years, there has been a growing appreciation that a large number of patients with heart failure have a relatively normal (or preserved) ejection fraction (NFNEF). Epidemiologically, HFNEF is most prevalent among elderly women, most of whom have hypertension, diabetes, or both and often coronary artery disease (CAD). Increased arterial stiffness and/or wave reflections have been described in the same patient groups. Therefore, the investigators speculate that pulsatile hemodynamics, representing arterial stiffness and/or arterial wave reflections, 1) may be altered in HFNEF patients, 2) this may contribute to pathophysiology of HFNEF, and 3) this may be used for the diagnosis of the syndrome.
The CVRx® Rheos® Diastolic Heart Failure Trial is a prospective, randomized, double blind trial with up to 60 subjects conducted at up to five centers in Europe. All subjects will be followed up to one year post implant.
This prospective observational study is designed to confirm the prognostic and economic impact of depression in ambulatory patients with systolic or diastolic heart failure, to explore the impact of other psychosocial patterns such as type D personality, anxiety disorders, locus of control, perceived social support, anger, hopelessness, and to evaluate potential pathophysiological and behavioral pathways.