Active clinical trials for "Coronary Artery Disease"

The overall goal of this study is to determine if non-invasive imaging with state of the art CT coronary angiography can be used to screen for transplant coronary artery disease in the setting of heart transplant. Our current protocol at UCSF for heart transplant patients involves screening with stress tests as well as coronary angiograms with intravascular ultrasound to assess the diameter of the lumen of the coronary arteries and to assess wall thickness.

It's reported that USCOM can be used to measured patients' CO and CI conveniently, accurately and not confined to place, because of it's no aggressive, it's accuracy is doubtful.

To assess prognostic value of CCTA examination in subjects who undergo CCTA as part of their medical care when compared to a standard of truth, i.e. subject outcomes during each follow-up period.

This study examines the relationship between the SCOUT DM device and coronary artery calcification as determined by rapid computed tomography in patients at risk for coronary heart disease.

The study is designed to evaluate the predictive diagnostic accuracy of SonoMedica's CardioSond digital electronic stethoscope in the detection of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients without known disease who are referred to cardiac computed tomography angiography (CT scans).

Multislice CT angiography is a novel but already established and widely used in diagnosing coronary artery disease (CAD). It is very reliable in ruling out hemodynamically significant narrowings in coronary arteries (Negative predictive value). However, it may overestimate the severity of the stenoses in up to 30% of the coronary artery lesions (positive predictive value 70%). However, when coupled with a functional or flow-sensitive diagnostic test, such as PET perfusion or coronary doppler ultrasonography, one can assume that even the PPV may be as high as 95 %. Despite this assumption, there's no scientific evidence to support use of such hybrid multi-modality tests at present. The investigators hypothesis is that improving the diagnostic accuracy of non-invasive diagnosis of coronary artery disease will decrease the proportion of patients that need catheter angiographies. The avoidance of these unnecessary invasive procedures will improve patients´ quality of life and may even redirect health care resources in a more efficient way.

Demonstrate the ability of muti-detector computed tomography to adequately perform stress testing will result in a veritable "one-stop shop" of non-invasive cardiac imaging that is, the ability to directly visualize heart arteries with high accuracy and to simultaniously determine the hemodynamic significance of any blockages visualized.

The primary aim of the proposed research is to examine the relationship of lifestyle changes to new dietary, biomedical, and cellular parameters among new enrollees entering the "Dr. Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease program" at 5 selected sites. Specifically, the investigators will add assessments of emerging cardiac risk factors (e.g., high sensitivity C-reactive protein [hsCRP], fibrinogen, lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)], small, dense LDL, apolipoprotein B [apoB], apolipoprotein A-I [apo A1], the apoB/apoA1 ratio, homocysteine [Hcy], B-type natriuretic peptide [BNP], oxidized LDL, fasting insulin and waist-to-hip ratio [WHR]), protective and pathogenic dietary markers (e.g., folate, carotenoids, trans fatty acids), and measures of social support and cognitive functioning to the already existing assessment variables in the Multisite Cardiac Lifestyle Intervention Program (MCLIP). Hypothesis 1: Participation in the lifestyle program will not only be associated with favorable changes in standard coronary risk factors and quality of life, but also with improvements in emerging cardiac risk factors [hsCRP, Hcy, BNP, fibrinogen, Lp(a), small, dense LDL, apoB, apoA1, oxidized LDL, fasting insulin, and abdominal obesity] and psychosocial well-being (i.e., social support, and cognitive functioning). Hypothesis 2: High intake of emerging protective dietary factors and low intake of emerging pathogenic dietary factors will be associated with improvements in both standard and emerging cardiac risk factors (e.g. Hcy, oxidized LDL). Hypothesis 3: Degree of adherence to the lifestyle change program will be associated with differential improvement in standard coronary risk factors, emerging risk factors, cellular aging, and psychosocial variables.

The aim of the present study is to investigate wether endothelial dysfunction associated with stable coronary artery disease is altered by selective aldosterone antagonism with Eplerenone as potential anti-inflammatory drug versus placebo. Additionally we hypothesize that selective aldosterone antagonism reduces systemic inflammatory response such as C-reactive proteine, oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Patients with underlying cardiovascular disease are at high risk of perioperative cardiovascular events and death. Hemodynamic variables are controlled by the autonomic nervous system reflected by Heart Rate Variability. To investigate whether differences of HRV parameters predict perioperative cardiovascular events.