Active clinical trials for "Atherosclerosis"

Endothelial dysfunction has been demonstrated to be an early marker of coronary artery disease (CAD). On the other hand, myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (MP-SPECT) is a widely used technique for evaluation of patients with suspected or known CAD. Preliminary data suggest that myocardial perfusion heterogeneity (a potential surrogate marker of endothelial dysfunction) can be assessed on conventional MP-SPECT, but its additive and independent prognostic value over the presence of myocardial ischemia remain unknown. More over, factual data demonstrate that inhalation of particulate matters and gaz (NO2, CO) from air pollution contributes to the development of cardiovascular diseases in the short and long term. The role of air pollution in endothelial dysfunction has been suggested. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the prognostic value of myocardial perfusion heterogeneity assessed by a new automatized image processing method applied to routine MP-SPECT. The second purpose is to evaluate the role of air pollution exposure in pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. The main hypothesis is that the presence of myocardial perfusion heterogeneity is predictive of 2-year cardiovascular events in patients referred to the Nuclear Cardiology Department for routine evaluation of known or suspected CAD. The second hypothesis is that microcirculatory coronary dysfunction is a causal link between air pollution and cardiovascular disease.

South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali, and Sri Lankan) individuals have high rates of cardiovascular disease that is not explained by traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Though South Asians represent over one-quarter of the world's population, there are no longitudinal studies in this high-risk ethnic group. The investigators aim to establish a longitudinal study of South Asians at three United States centers to identify risk factors linked to subclinical atherosclerosis and incident cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study is to understand the causes of heart disease and stroke in South Asians and compare these causes to those in other United States ethnic groups.

The study is to attain early recognition of the unstable plaques which have an imminent embolic risk in patients with intracranial atherosclerotic disease (IAD).

This study is to find out the significance of gut-microbiota in acute stroke patients, including their neurological, radiological outcomes as well as their stroke mechanisms.

The research team has developed a deep learning algorithm that predicts anthropometric factors from fundus photographs and an algorithm that predicts cardiovascular disease risk. Fundus photographs are taken for various cardiovascular diseases (myocardial infarction, heart failure, hypertension with target organ damage, high-risk dyslipidemia, diabetic patients, and low-risk hypertension patients), and a deep learning algorithm for predicting developed anthropometric factors will be validated. Fundus photographs will also be taken twice in the first year, and additional fundus photographs will be taken two years later. Major cardiovascular events will be followed up for 5 years to verify the deep learning algorithm predicting cardiovascular disease risk prospectively.

The Kitasato PCI Registry is a single-center, observational, prospective study. This study aims to investigate the impact of characteristics in clinical manifestation, patients' background, procedure of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and pre/post PCI culprit/nonculprit lesion observed by intra-coronary imaging modality on clinical outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to assess short and long term outcomes of stenting for symptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major cause of morbidity, disability, mortality, and health expenditures worldwide. A wealth of studies has demonstrated that people of South Asian ancestry have a higher risk of CHD and particularly premature CHD than most other racial/ethnic groups, and recent research suggests that this risk is higher in Pakistanis than in Indians-the two largest SA groups. Pakistan is the 5th most populous country in the world, and despite these concerning trends, so far there has been a scarcity of large studies evaluating the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and subclinical coronary atherosclerosis in young-to-middle-aged Pakistanis. Also, there is currently no cardiovascular risk score specifically tailored to younger Pakistani men and women. The PAKistan Study of prEmature coronary atHerosclerosis in young AdulTs (PAK-SEHAT) aims at addressing these important gaps. PAK-SEHAT is an ongoing prospective cohort study that will enroll 2,000 asymptomatic Pakistani men aged 35 to 60 years and women aged 35 to 65 years from the general population, free of clinically overt cardiovascular disease. Participants will undergo a comprehensive baseline exam including coronary computed tomography angiography, and will be followed for incident events and repeat testing for 5 years. PAK-SEHAT will allow determining the prevalence, severity, determinants, and prognostic significance of early atherosclerosis in apparently healthy young-to-middle-aged Pakistanis. This knowledge can help inform primordial and primary prevention strategies, enhanced cardiovascular risk stratification, and potential plaque-screening approaches in Pakistan, all of which can ultimately help reduce the burden of CHD in the country. In this report investigators describe the rationale, objectives, methods, and discuss the potential implications of the PAK-SEHAT study.

The goal of this observational study is to learn more about plaque biology in asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis (ACAS) patients through imaging. The main questions it aims to answer are: To determine the ability of 64Cu-CANF-Comb positron emission tomography (PET) to risk stratify ACAS patients for stroke event, to include transient ischemic attack or remote ipsilateral intervention. To further understand the role of Natriuretic Peptide Receptor C (NPRC) in the evolution of carotid atherosclerosis. Participants will be asked to undergo a carotid PET-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination to assess whether the carotid atherosclerosis uptake of 64Cu-CANF-Comb as measured by PET-MRI correlates with patient outcomes (stroke, transient ischemic attack, or remote ipsilateral intervention).

This is a technical development study with the goal to develop 3D techniques for atherosclerosis plaque characterization. We hypothesize that 3D MRI is superior to 2D MRI in characterizing major plaque constituents that contribute to severe clinical events such as myocardial infarction or stroke. The major advantages of the 3D techniques to be developed will include high spatial resolution, reduced scan times, and optimized image contrast. The use of contrast injection is not needed with the new techniques, which is greatly beneficial for patients with advanced chronic kidney disease.This is not a funded clinical trial.