Active clinical trials for "Coronary Artery Disease"

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the blood flow to the heart during stress and assess changes in blood flow after psychological treatment in participants with coronary artery disease. The aims of the study are to assess the effects of heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback (versus usual care) on global and regional myocardial blood flow (MBF), peripheral vascular function, and autonomic changes during mental stress.

The object of this study is to determine the improvement obtained in long-term adherence to home-based rehabilitation programs (cardiac rehabilitation phase III) when following a guided exercise training prescription supervised by an innovative system specifically designed to optimize the training effects and maximize the patient´s security compared to the standard care given in each country for this kind of patients. The innovated Guided Exercise- (GEx)- System consists of a sensor that monitors vital parameters during exercise training sessions used in combination with software that provides feedback to the patient based on the training prescription provided by the doctor and the level exertion monitored. This main trial follows a pretrial in which the used ECG sensor was validated at hospital during rehabilitation phase II and the practicability of the vest with this integrated ECG sensor and the possibility of technical problems of this innovative GEx- system were tested in real-life of the patient during phase III at home (ID 11-094).

Despite several large clinical trials clearly establishing that coronary revascularization (i.e. percutaneous coronary intervention - PCI) does not prolong survival or prevent myocardial infarction (MI) for stable coronary artery disease (CAD), patients with stable angina continue to believe that PCI is performed to improve these outcomes. Additionally, recent concerns have emerged of overuse of PCI among patients with little or no angina. Thus there is a compelling need to share with patients the risks and benefits of PCI prior to treatment to reach an informed decision. This study is designed to answer the question of whether a decision aid can improve patient knowledge, decisional conflict and patient satisfaction with decision-making compared to usual care for the treatment of stable angina.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether it is safe to send patients home from the hospital on the same day following an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implant.

The investigators would like to investigate whether clopidogrel will help lower the level of harmful markers in patients with coronary artery disease, and at the same time will help increase the cells that are useful in repairing the damaged blood vessels. The investigators will give half of the patients clopidogrel and the other half a sugar pill, placebo, and check the levels of these markers and helpful cells in each group. At the same time the investigators will check how well these patient's blood vessels work using ultrasound imaging of the forearm to see how blood vessels relax and tonometry to see how stiff the patient's blood vessels are. After 6 weeks of drug therapy, the patients will switch to the other drug and these same tests will be performed after an additional 6 weeks of therapy. The drug taken by the patient will not be known to the patient or the researchers. The patients will continue on their prescribed medical therapy during the duration of the 12 week study.

To investigate the effect of milk delivered from mountain-pasture grazing cows on risk markers of the metabolic syndrome and type-2 diabetes with the effect of conventional Danish milk. The study should reveal the importance of phytanic acid content for these effects.

In this Prestudy which will be followed by the multicentral GEx- main-trial, the feasibility of a new cardiac rehabilitation device (GEx system) is proved with coronary heart disease patients who participate in cardiac rehabilitation training exercise at the rehabilitation clinic (phase II) and subsequently at home (phase III). The GEx system consists of a easy-to-wear vest with integrated electrodes to measure electrocardiogram (ECG), respiration and activity, furthermore of a PDA to collect and store the monitored data and a cradle to charge the batteries. Several physiological parameters are extracted from thes measured vital signs like heart rate, breathing rate, ECG and activity. In this pretrial first the GEx sensor system is validated during guided exercise of the patients in the rehabilitation clinic (phase II). Subsequently at home (phase III) the practicability of the vest and sensors and possible technical problems in real- life use are proved. This means after moderate training like walking, cycling or running at home for 3 weeks patients will report the feasibility of usage. The ECG data and breathing- frequency data will be analyzed to see if data are recorded and transmitted well in regard to technical problems.

The primary objective of the trial is to compare the acute safety and long term outcomes between hospitals with cardiac surgery on-site (SOS hospitals) and hospitals without cardiac surgery on-site (non-SOS hospitals) for patients with ischemic heart disease treated with elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (stable angina, acute coronary syndrome, or non-Q wave MI) presenting to non-SOS hospitals.

Women who have regular menstrual cycles have a lower risk of heart disease than men of the same age or women who no longer have menstrual cycles. The purpose of this study is to help determine why the menstrual cycle causes a lower risk of heart disease. The investigators believe that the hormones (estradiol and progesterone) produced during the menstrual cycle, as well as the normal processes occurring in the follicle and corpus luteum (transformed follicle), change levels of "good" and "bad" cholesterol in the blood-stream. These levels of good and bad cholesterol are an important risk factor for heart disease. Therefore, our goal is to determine what effects each of these factors (estradiol, progesterone, follicle, corpus luteum) have on the levels of good and bad cholesterol in the woman's bloodstream. As many women take birth control pills, which contain synthetic forms of estradiol and progesterone that block ovulation and development of a corpus luteum, the investigators also want to determine what effect one common type of birth control pill has on levels of good and bad cholesterol.

The objective of the CELT ACD® Vascular Closure Device study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the CELT ACD® device to achieve hemostasis of the common femoral artery access site in patients on anticoagulation who are undergoing a percutaneous intervention (PCI) procedure using a 6F sheath.