View clinical trials related to Vascular Diseases.
Filter by:This study is being conducted to provide access to and collect test data for an established nuclear medicine diagnostic imaging test called Positron Emission Tomography (PET), using a specific radioactive drug called Ammonia N-13 (Ammonia), referred to simply as an Ammonia PET scan, which is used to visualize the blood flow through the blood vessels and into the heart muscle in order to identify areas of restricted blood flow within the heart. The scanner used in this study may be a stand-alone PET scanner or a PET/CT scanner, which combines the PET scanner and a Computed Tomography (CT) scanner into a single device. Unless otherwise stated in this consent form, the term PET will be used to refer to both stand-alone PET and PET/CT scanners. While physicians have used the Ammonia PET test for many years to visualize (image) the blood flow into the heart muscle (perfusion), it is now possible to also measure the flow of blood into the heart muscle. Research studies have demonstrated clinical value in reviewing the measured blood flow values in addition to reviewing the perfusion images of blood flow into the heart muscle. Therefore, this study will establish a database of a large number of Ammonia PET measured blood flow values to serve as a future reference.
The purpose of this research study is to discover the functions of circulating white blood cells, called monocytes, and associated circulating substances in heart attack and ischemic stroke patients. Ischemic Strokes (clots) occur as a result of an obstruction within a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain. A type of monocyte carrying a surface marker called "P2X4" helps the immune system sense and respond to danger signals from the body such as heart muscle and brain tissue injuries. The researchers expect to learn more about how these monocyte cells react to heart and brain tissue injury, and how the cells may then produce proteins or other chemical substances which promote the healing of heart muscle after heart attack and brain tissue after an ischemic stroke.
The objective of this study is to show that the safety and efficacy of renal denervation using DENEX, are superior to those of control group for the patients with hypertension on no or 1 to 3 antihypertensive medications.
The purpose of this study is to assess safety and effectiveness of the p64 MW HPC or p48 MW HPC Flow Modulation Device under prasugrel.
The purpose of this study is to assess safety and effectiveness of the p64 MW HPC or p48 MW HPC Flow Modulation Device under Dual Antiplatelet Medication.
Accelerated atherosclerosis is an established complication of systemic autoimmune diseases, particularly SLE. Young female patients with SLE are more likely to develop myocardial infarction than matched healthy controls, and CVD is nowadays one of the most common causes of death (27%) in lupus patients. While traditional CV risk factors cannot explain such increased CV morbidity associated with SLE, common disease factors shared between SLE, atherosclerosis and treatment exposure may be of outmost importance in this process. Our group made 3 findings of particular interest that could link SLE pathogenesis and atherosclerosis-associated immune dysregulation: 1/ the investigators identified specific immunometabolites (circulating nucleotide-derived metabolites adenine and N4-acetylcytidine), which are increased in the circulation of SLE patients. These immunometabolites trigger a constitutive inflammasome activation resulting in aberrant IL1-β production. Given that IL1-β inhibition was reported to significantly reduce CV events without altering lipid levels, the investigators propose that these immunometabolites may represent novel candidate biomarkers of CV risk stratification in SLE. 2/ the investigators identified OX40L as an important costimulatory molecule implicated in follicular helper T cell (Tfh) activation in SLE. Interestingly, OX40L polymorphism has been associated to both SLE and atherosclerosis, and Tfh have been recently shown to accelerate atherosclerosis progression. 3/ Immune complexes-activated platelets sustain aberrant immune response in SLE and block immunosuppressive functions of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in a P-selectin/PSGL1 dependent manner. Selectins and Tregs cell dysfunction are well accepted players in atherosclerosis pathogenesis. Thus there are multiple pathways that are shared between SLE and atherosclerosis and that may results in an increased risk of CV-associated morbidity in SLE patients. Exploring these interconnected pathways in SLE patients together with traditional and other well-established disease-related factors, might lead to a better stratification of CV risk in SLE. The aim of this study is to investigate the accuracy, predictive value and utility of immunological disease-related biomarkers in stratifying CV risk in patients with SLE.
To evaluate the safety and efficacy of recombinant human hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) bare plasmid injection for local intramuscular injection in the treatment of patients with severe lower limb hemorrhagic disease (Rutherford grade 4)
Heart transplantation is a golden standard for the treatment of terminal heart failure. The major cause of death in late posttransplant period is cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV). This posttransplant complication develops slowly over several years, and when diagnosed either by conventional coronary angiography or due to graft failure, it is often too advanced and difficult to treat since it is diffuse coronary artery disease. Therefore, early prevention of CAV is a subject of major interest in the transplant cardiology. Since CAV is associated with immune factors, immunomodulatory therapeutic options, like extracorporeal photopheresis are lately being investigated. Unlike conventional coronary angiography, optical coherence tomography (OCT) is able to detect the development of CAV in the earliest phase, i.e. even in the first post-transplant year. In our study, we plan to investigate the prophylactic effect of extracorporeal photopheresis in the early development of cardiac graft vasculopathy detected by OCT.
Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) represents the leading cause of late morbidity and mortality in heart transplant recipients as the second most frequent cause of all deaths at 3 years. In distinction from general coronary atherosclerosis, CAV affects diffusely the entire coronary vasculature with marked intimal proliferation and concentric vascular thickening and fibrosis. It was demonstrated that most of the intimal thickening due to CAV occurs during the first year after transplantation. Furthermore, the severity of the CAV appears to correlate with lipid abnormalities and elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is very common after transplantation with nadir of LDL levels occurring at 6 months. Because of drug-drug interactions, heart transplant recipients cannot be treated with adequate doses of statins to achieve desirable reduction of LDL-C levels (reduction ˂ 60% of LDL-C). The use of alternative lipid-lowering drugs including bile acid sequestrates, fibrates, nicotinic acid or ezetimibe is not recommended in post-transplant scenario. Inhibition of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) increase availability has emerged as a novel drug tool for LDL-C lowering, capable to lower LDL-C by more than 60% even in statin-treated patients with very good safety profile. Although heart transplant recipients fulfill approved indication and standard clinical guidelines of a PCSK9 inhibitor, alirocumab, there are no available data on use of PCSK9 inhibitor in post-transplant situation. The purpose of the ACAV study is to clarify efficacy and safety of alirocumab compared to placebo administered during the first year after transplantation in heart transplant recipients in addition to background atorvastatin therapy. Except lipid profile, optical coherence tomography (OCT) will be performed as the objective efficacy endpoint to examine thickness and lumen of coronary vessels. It is expected that inhibition of PCSK9 in heart transplant recipient will dramatically improve post-transplant lipoprotein levels and perhaps slow down development of CAV in the most critical period of the first year after transplantation.
Changes in the vascular tone of anesthetized patients is common and cause hemodynamic problems. The investigators have previously demonstrated that the shape of the pulse oximetry waveform (photoplethysmography) is closely related to the changes observed in systemic vascular resistence. The main change in pulse waveform is based to the dichrotic notch position. The present study was designed to determine if the dichrotic notch position is related to a local or a systemic change in the vascular tone.