Active clinical trials for "Arteriosclerosis"

This study evaluates the relationship between Ambulatory Aortic and Branchial blood pressure vs Office blood pressure measurements with the changes in arterial stiffness indices, in long-term Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) patients. These parameters will be monitored both cross-sectionally at the start of the study and prospectively over a 6 month period.

The study tries to reveal if aminobisphosphonates influence aside the bone density also the vascular status in the typical elderly patient population

In this proposal, the investigators will demonstrate the feasibility and noninferiority of telerobotic ultrasonography as compared to traditional manual acquisition in performing a limited carotid Duplex examination and in carotid plaque detection.

This is a multi-center, investigator initiated study that will prospectively and retrospectively examine treatment strategies and outcomes of patients who underwent percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). The goal of this multi-center, investigator initiated, registry is to collect information on treatment strategies and outcomes of consecutive patients undergoing laser-assisted PCI among various participating centers. The study is a purely observational, chart review study and involves retrieval and compiling of data based on clinically indicated procedures and follow-up clinical and procedural outcomes. The information collected will be used to determine the frequency of laser-assisted PCI performed at the participating sites and examine the procedural strategies utilized, and the procedural (both immediate and subsequent) outcomes.

Stroke is a common clinical disease with high disability and mortality, which seriously threatens human life and health.Carotid atherosclerotic plaque rupture is an important pathogenic basis of ischemic stroke, so judging the stability of plaque has important clinical significance in preventing ischemic stroke.Ultrasound, as a convenient, rapid, noninvasive, radiation-free auxiliary examination technology, is widely used in carotid plaque stability examination.At present, there are many methods to judge the stability of carotid plaque based on ultrasound, including two-dimensional ultrasound, contrast-enhanced ultrasound, ultrasound elastography and so on. However, the results of plaque stability judgment by various technologies deviate greatly, which is not conducive to the development of standardized diagnosis and treatment strategies by clinicians.Studies have shown that because the neovascular epidermal cells in atherosclerotic plaques are imperfect, they are easy to rupture after stress, and the ruptured neovasculature will lead to intraplaque hemorrhage, thus causing plaque shedding, and eventually obstructing the cerebrovascular cause stroke.Contrast-enhanced ultrasound can sensitively detect the distribution and course of blood vessels.The plaque's softness and hardness determine its stability, while the difference of lipids, fibers and calcium in the plaque determines its softness and hardness.Real-time ultrasound elastography can provide tissue mechanical parameters, express the soft and hard of tissue with strain value, and provide important reference information for judging plaque stability.At present, elastography technology is used to reflect the hardness of plaque, so as to further judge its stability.However, the elastography parameters are prone to deviations due to the influence of the selected section and the selected region of interest.It can be seen from the above that there is currently a multi-modality method to evaluate the stability of carotid plaque using ultrasound, but there is a lack of a unified and objective reference standard for plaque stability assessment.The purpose of this study is to explore the comprehensive utilization of these modalities under the premise of optimizing each ultrasound modality to provide a unified and objective criterion for judging the stability of carotid plaque.

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is frequently appearing in patients with cardiovascular disease and these patients, as a consequence herby, has a lesser prognosis. DM is often related to increased arterial stiffness and hypertension. The investigators thesis is that DM and pre-diabetes is prevalent in patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery and to some extend is under-diagnosed. At the same time the investigators imagine that DM is closely related to the degree of arterial stiffness, and that these parameters are closely related to a new biochemical marker, fibulin-1. The investigators aim to describe the prevalence of type 2 DM and dysmetabolism in patients admitted to the hospital to undergo cardiovascular surgery and besides that to investigate if there is a connection between the degree of the dysmetabolism and arterial disease, by studying arterial stiffness and by measuring a new biochemical marker, fibulin-1, which the investigators newly have identified. The results of this project will give us a measure for the quantity of unknown DM in patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery and furthermore tell us more in terms of the connections between a newly identified plasma arterial marker, arterial stiffness and diabetes.

1) Establish normal value for coronary calcium scoring in Taiwan. 2) Find out the relationship of coronary calcium deposition and coronary artery stenosis. Propose a clinical management guideline based on coronary calcium score. 3) Evaluate sensitivity/specificity of coronary CT angiography and the influence of coronary calcium score on coronary CT angiography. 4) Evaluate the clinical application of myocardial enhancement measurement.

During elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), both proximal and distal protection devices are used. The distal occlusion protection device temporarily occludes the vessel distal to the lesion during the intervention, thereby capturing both particular debris and soluble substances released from the lesion such that they can be aspirated and prevented from reaching the coronary microcirculation. Rather than simply discarding the material which is retrieved from use of protection devices, the investigators have recently taken advantage of this situation, sampled the particulate and soluble material and subjected it to a variety of analyses with the ultimate goal to have a better insight into the respective plaque composition and to correlate it to the individual imaging and clinical data. On the basis of such information the investigators aim to better understand the pathophysiology of plaque vulnerability and to possibly predict the clinical development of the individual patient.

Generalized arterial calcification of infancy (GACI) is an ultra-rare disorder with an estimated birth prevalence of around 1 in 400,000.1 GACI is generally fatal before birth or within the first six months after birth. The cause of death is frequently myocardial infarction or stroke. GACI is strongly associated with inactivating mutations in ectonucleotide pyrophosphate/ phosphodiesterase 1 (ENPP1). Many patients with GACI, including some without an ENPP1 mutation also present with mutations in adenosine triphosphate binding cassette transporter protein subfamily C member 6 (ABCC6). Autosomal recessive hypophosphatemic rickets type 2 (ARHR2) and pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) are believed to be closely related to GACI. ARHR2 is caused by mutations in the ENPP1 gene and PXE is caused by mutations in the ABCC6 gene, with both being observed among patients with GACI. The natural history of GACI and in particular its long term morbidity and mortality are poorly understood. The primary objective of this study is to characterize overall survival among patients with GACI, over time from birth.

This is a prospective and observational study in patients with type two diabetes. The study hypothesis is that chronic hyperglycemia causes an increase in the microcirculation on the carotid artery wall and retina, evaluated by angio-OCT. Furthermore, the reestablishment of normoglycemia would decrease this microcirculation, which could trigger hypoxic and ischemic changes, accelerating preclinical atherosclerosis. The study goal is to describe the microangiopathy in both territories in patients with type two diabetes and chronic hyperglycemia, and to evaluate changes after the reestablishment of normoglycemia.