Active clinical trials for "Heart and Blood Diseases"

The purpose of this study is to determine the HIT-antibody generation without prior heparin-exposure in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery.

This clinical investigation is a prospective, non-randomized, multi-center pivotal trial. This trial aims to validate the automatic detection features provided by the external long-duration SpiderFlash-t™ Event recorder coupled with its analyser EventScope™, and to assess the performances of the Mode Switch function provided by Sorin Group Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators (ICDs). This trial is being performed first in order to demonstrate the ventricular tachycardia (VT)/ ventricular fibrillation (VF) sensitivity of the automatic VT/VF detection function of the EventScope™ software. Patients will be implanted with an ICD from Sorin Group, with PARAD+ arrhythmia detection enabled and Mode Switch (MS) algorithms activated in all patients. Arrhythmic events will be documented over a period of 6 to 8 weeks for each patient.

Stem cell theray in old stroke patients is a study to treat stroke patients approved before in our hospital. We recruit these patients who received stem cell therapy and completed the study. We adopted movement-related cortical potential,and cortico-cortical inhibition to assess the stroke patients with or without stem cell therapy. Further analyzing the correlation of the motor related cortical potential and cortico-cortical inhibition among them. We wanted to find out if there are changes in cortical excitability in subjects with chronic stroke after stem cell therapy.

Stroke is the most common cause for motor disability in the grown-up population in the Western world. In Sweden > 80 % are above 65 years of age at onset (1).Areas in the brain, controlling the movement in the upper extremity (UE) are often damaged at a stroke, which leads to impaired function. This impairment of the UE often leads to limitations in activities of daily living and reductions in the level of social activities; therefore, interventions that will improve function are needed to reduce the consequences for the person living with stroke. The time course of recovery of the UE is not clear and therefore the optimal timing of the intervention for the person and its content (ways of intervention) uncertain. The investigators have developed objective assessments of motor performance with new technology (kinematic analysis and virtual reality with haptics). Since having an impaired UE often results in reduced capacity in daily living and social activities, this might lead to decreased participation. To complement the traditional focus on body function, there is a need for assessments of the person's activity level and participation, as well as self-perceived function. The results from this study will lay the ground for an intervention study focusing on improved function in the upper extremity.

Pregnant women with a prior history of venous thromboembolism (VTE) are at increased risk of recurrent VTE. Current guidelines assessing the role of prophylaxis in pregnant women with prior VTE are based primarily on expert opinion and the optimal clinical management strategy remains unclear. This multicentre, prospective cohort study aims to test the following hypotheses: Antepartum prophylaxis with fixed-dose low molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) is safe, convenient and associated with an acceptably low risk of recurrent VTE in women with a single prior episode of VTE that was either unprovoked or associated with a minor transient risk factor. (Moderate risk cohort) Withholding antepartum prophylaxis is safe (recurrence risk <1%) in pregnant women with a single prior episode of VTE provoked by a major transient risk factor. (Low risk cohort) All study patients will receive 6 weeks of postpartum prophylaxis.

Diabetes mellitus is becoming a global epidemic. There is a need to devise a non invasive method for detection of diabetes and its related complication. Tear proteins are easy to collect causing no harm to a patient and different studies indicate that tear proteins of diabetic patients are significantly different from non diabetic population. This difference in the composition of tear proteins become more pronounced with advancement of diabetic retinopathy.

Microvolt T-Wave Alternans (MTWA) is a relatively new non-invasive method for identifying patients at increased risk of sudden death from ventricular arrhythmias. MTWA can be measured during a routine exercise test, during pharmacologic stress or during cardiac pacing. Its clinical performance compares favorably with that of other non-invasive risk stratifiers and invasive electophysiologic studies. The purpose of the present study is to define the reproducibility of MTWA testing.

Given that previous studies demonstrated the feasibility of the required MRI techniques, we propose to study the macro- and microvascular adaptations in PAOD patients undergoing supervised exercise therapy. It is expected to provide valuable insights into the contribution of each vascular mechanism to the rehabilitation and to identify which vascular mechanism fails or is insufficient for a successful rehabilitation. Improvement of future treatment requires the identification of relevant adaptive mechanisms. With this we will provide early noninvasive MRI readout tools to diagnose and monitor the potential rehabilitation during any form of therapy for PAOD that affects the peripheral vasculature.

our research team will develop a new CADL scale for stroke patients over the next three years. In the first year, we had established a CADL item bank of 50 items. The investigators will administer the 50 items on 300 patients with stroke living in the community. Then we will select 10 to 15 items from the item bank for the CADL scale based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), the opinions of an expert panel, and Rasch analysis. It is anticipated that the CADL scale will have unidimensionality, an interval level of measurement, soundly psychometric characteristics, a reduced number of items, and ease of administration. In the second and third years, we will compare the psychometric properties of the CADL scale and the combined BI and FAI scale. The psychometric properties investigated will include reliability (e.g. inter-rater reliability, intra-rater reliability, and internal consistency), validity (e.g. concurrent validity, convergent validity, predictive validity and discriminant validity), and responsiveness. A total of 150 patients will be recruited. Both the CADL scale and the combined BI and FAI scale will be used on patients from the initial stage (within one month) to six months after hospital discharge. The results will be useful for researchers and clinicians to determine whether the CADL scale is better than the combined BI and FAI scale in stroke patients.

This study is going to comprehensively examine the psychometric properties of the three depression scales (Hamilton depression scale (HAMD), Hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)) in stroke patients over a period of three years.