View clinical trials related to Pulmonary Artery Hypertension.
Filter by:Background: A heart catheterization is a diagnostic heart procedure used to measure pressures and take pictures of the blood flow through the heart chambers. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) fluoroscopy shows continuous pictures of the heart chambers that doctors can watch while they work. Researchers want to test this procedure with catheterization tools routinely used in x-ray catheterization called guidewires. Guidewires will help move the heart catheter through the different heart chambers. Guidewires are usually considered unsafe during MRI because MRI can cause a guidewire to heat while inside the blood vessels and heart. Researchers are testing special low energy MRI settings that allow certain guidewires to be used during MRI catheterization without heating. Using these guidewires during MRI may help to decrease the amount of time you are in the MRI scanner, and the overall time the MRI catheterization procedure takes. Objectives: To test if certain MRI settings make it safe to use a guidewire during MRI fluoroscopy. Eligibility: Adults 18 and older whose doctors have recommended right heart catheterization. Design: Researchers will screen participants by reviewing their lab results and questionnaire answers. Participants may give 4 blood samples. Participants will be sedated. They will have a tube (catheter) placed in the groin, arm, or neck if they don t already have one. Patches on the skin will monitor heart rhythm. Special antennas, covered in pads, will be placed against the body. Participants will lie flat on a table that slides in and out of the MRI scanner as it makes pictures. Participants will get earplugs for the loud knocking noise. They can talk on an intercom. They will be inside the scanner for up to 2 hours. They can ask to stop at any time. During a heart catheterization, catheters will be inserted through the tubes already in place. The catheters are guided by MRI fluoroscopy into the chambers of the heart and vessels. The guidewire will help position the catheter.
The purpose of this research is to gather information on the safety and effectiveness of a new procedure called Fetoscopic Endoluminal Tracheal Occlusion (FETO).
Many control mechanisms exist which successfully match the supply of blood with the metabolic demand of various tissues under wide-ranging conditions. One primary regulator of vasomotion and thus perfusion to the muscle tissue is the host of chemical factors originating from the vascular endothelium and the muscle tissue, which collectively sets the level of vascular tone. With advancing age and in many disease states, deleterious adaptations in the production and sensitivity of these vasodilator and vasoconstrictor substances may be observed, leading to a reduction in skeletal muscle blood flow and compromised perfusion to the muscle tissue. Adequate perfusion is particularly important during exercise to meet the increased metabolic demand of the exercising tissue, and thus any condition that reduces tissue perfusion may limit the capacity for physical activity. As it is now well established that regular physical activity is a key component in maintaining cardiovascular health with advancing age, there is a clear need for further studies in populations where vascular dysfunction is compromised, with the goal of identifying the mechanisms responsible for the dysfunction and exploring whether these maladaptations may be remediable. Thus, to better understand the etiology of these vascular adaptations in health and disease, the current proposal is designed to study changes in vascular function with advancing age, and also examine peripheral vascular changes in patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Sepsis, Pulmonary Hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. While there are clearly a host of vasoactive substances which collectively act to govern vasoconstriction both at rest and during exercise, four specific pathways that may be implicated have been identified in these populations: Angiotensin-II (ANG-II), Endothelin-1 (ET-1), Nitric Oxide (NO), and oxidative stress.
Pulmonary hypertension Group 2 (PH 2) associated with left-sided heart disease is relatively common, is associated with a poor prognosis, and unfortunately there are no proven medical treatments beyond attempts at correcting the left sided heart disease. Many PH 2 patients have evidence of active constriction of blood vessels from increased nerve traffic. Use of agents or procedures which produce a reversible chemical blockage of this nerve traffic have not been systematically tested in PH 2. The investigators will test whether acute interruption of sympathetic nervous system tone, which local anesthetic block of the stellate ganglion in the neck, will improve PH2, and also test whether the high blood pressure drug reserpine, which blocks sympathetic nerve activity, will do so during a one month trial period.
Pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) is a chronic and progressive disease that affects 15 persons per million. Although current therapy has improve disease prognosis, PAH still has a poor survival, with a median survival of 2.8 years after diagnosis. In the last few years new key elements in PAH pathogenesis have been discovered, such as the role of metabolism in disease onset and progression. In fact, PAH pulmonary smooth muscle cells switch into a glycolytic phenotype which resembles the metabolism of cancer cells. The investigators hypothesis is that "fatty acid oxidation inhibition reverts the PAH adverse phenotype by restoring mitochondrial function and morphology, decreasing proliferation and restoring apoptosis susceptibility in pulmonary smooth muscle cells "
Title of study / project: Influence of training with whole body vibration device on Quality of Life (QoL), exercise capacity, as well as on the effects of muscle power and muscle function in patients with pulmonal arterial hypertension (PAH). Background and rationale for the proposal:Capacity and the ability to exercise, in patients with PAH is limited. There is a few investigations evaluating the effects of the training with whole body vibration (wbv) in adults. It was shown that wbv-training could improve muscle power, QoL, body balance and had positive effects on the neuromuscular system. Primary scientific question addressed:Changes in muscle power, changes in 6-Minute Walk Distance (6MWD) and changes in QoL are to be evaluated.
This study is looking for high blood pressure in the lungs (Pulmonary artery hypertension PAH) in HIV and COPD patients.
Patients with hemolytic disorders (e.g. sickle cell anemia or thalassemia) are known to develop pulmonary hypertension. Hemolysis is where red blood cells are destroyed and their contents released into the circulation. It is thought that these red-cell contents cause constriction and thrombosis of the blood vessels in the lungs. Conversely, it is possible that patients with pulmonary hypertension have hemolysis. In this study we will be drawing blood from a range of patients and normal controls for a panel of blood tests related to hemolysis.