Active clinical trials for "Atherosclerosis"

There are two ways of approaching atherosclerotic chronic occlusive femoro-popliteal arterial lesion with guide wire. One is the intraluminal approach of passing guide wire through the atheroma, the other is the subintimal approach of passing wire through the subintima of the vessel. Either of these two interventional technique can be chosen depending on the character of the lesions they have their own pros and cons which affects the success of the intervention. The study is limited to retrospective studies to which interventional technique is better for post-procedural recurrence rate, however there is no prospective randomized controlled study.

In a prospective international multicenter observational study, 1080 stable chest pain patients (REALITY Advanced registry of CCTA patients) with the suspected chronic coronary syndrome will be enrolled. All of them will undergo computed tomography angiography, CMR and/ or SPECT, and Echo. One of the cohorts will be examined with multimodality invasive imaging including quantitative coronary angiography, FFR, QFR with or without further percutaneous coronary intervention, OCT, and some of them - with IVUS, VH-IVUS. The plaque size and relevant stenosis, a composition of the atherosclerotic lesion, major adverse cardiovascular events (all-cause death, death from cardiac causes, myocardial infarction, or rehospitalization due to unstable or progressive angina, ischemia-driven revascularization) will be judged to be related to either originally treated (culprit) lesions or untreated (non-culprit) lesions. Moreover, the clinical potential of both non-invasive and invasive imaging, as well as anatomical vs functional modalities in two real-world patient flows, will be estimated with the special focus on the natural progression of atherosclerosis, clinical outcomes, and safety (contrast-induced nephropathy, radiocontrast-induced thyroid dysfunction, and radiation dose). The diagnostic accuracy will be analyzed. The follow-up period will achieve 12 months prospectively with collected clinical events and imaging outcomes which will be determined at the baseline and 12-month follow-up. The independent ethics expertise will be provided by the Ural State Medical University (Yekaterinburg, Russia) and Central Clinical Hospital of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia). The monitoring of the clinical data with imaging as well as further CoreLab expertise (expert-level post-processing multimodal imaging software of Medis Imaging B.V., Leiden, The Netherlands) will be provided by De Haar Research Task Force, Amsterdam-Rotterdam, the Netherlands. FFR-CT is scheduled to be assessed by the ElucidVivo Research Edition software from Elucid Bio, Boston, MA, U.S.A. The REALITY project is a part of the JHWH (Jahweh) International Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging Consortium. The main objective of the Consortium that is uniting international efforts of both Academia and Industry is a synergistic development of the advanced machine-learning imaging software in order to integrate benefits of both non-invasive and invasive imaging providing the daily clinical practice with the robust tool for the anatomical and functional examination of coronary atherosclerosis, PCI-related arterial remodeling, and relevant myocardial function.

Purpose: Intracranial atherosclerosis is a common condition in Korean population consisting over 25% of ischemic stroke etiology. American Stroke Association and Korean Stroke Society recommend antiplatelet and statin for the treatment of intracranial atherosclerosis. Besides lowering blood cholesterol levels statin also stabilize atherosclerotic plaque and eventually lower the risk of ischemic stroke. However, little evidence resides on the effect of statin treatment on intracranial atherosclerosis. Recent advance in high-tesla magnetic resonance imaging enables direct imaging of intracranial atherosclerotic plaque and further assessment of treatment efficacy of statin in stabilization of intracranial atherosclerotic plaque became possible.

Background: - Advancing age is associated with greater risk of heart disease. High blood pressure and hardening of the arteries also have more complications with age. Studies suggest that age-related inflammation may affect fatty tissue in the body. If this fat develops in the muscles or around the heart, it may increase risks of heart disease. Researchers will study body composition in older adults to see if age-related changes in body fat are related to higher risks of heart disease. Objectives: - To study the relationship between fat deposits and aging, and greater risks of heart disease. Eligibility: Participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging between 50 and 80 years of age. Individuals between 50 and 80 years of age who have been diagnosed with coronary artery disease. Design: Participants will be screened with a physical exam and medical history. Participants will provide blood and urine samples. They will also have their height and weight measured. Waist circumference will also be taken. Participants will have a DEXA scan to study their muscles. Participants will have magnetic resonance imaging scans. These scans will study heart function and muscle and blood vessel health. Participants with coronary artery disease will have catheterization. Blood samples will be collected during the procedure....

The study is designed to assess the effect of statin on atherosclesrosis progression as well as to explore its potential mechanism besides lipid modifying , such as effect on inflammation and vascular calcification.

Background: - Treatments for partly blocked carotid arteries are determined by a person s symptoms and by tests that show how severe the blockage is. Studies show that the material that blocks an artery is more important in spotting future problems than how tight the blockage is. Researchers want to develop better imaging studies to find which blockages are more high-risk. Objectives: - To use imaging studies to look at high-risk carotid artery blockages. Eligibility: - Individuals at least 21 years of age whose ultrasound exams show a major carotid artery blockage. Design: Participants will be screened with a medical history, physical exam, blood and urine tests, , an ultrasound scan and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Participants will have ultrasound and other scans to obtain pictures of the arteries. The scans will use drugs that may help study doctors get a better picture of the blood vessels and blockages. Participants will have followup phone calls yearly for 3 years. If a participant later has surgery to remove the blockage, the surgeon will save part of it for future study.

The main aims of this study are to determine whether: a) psoriasis patients with or without arthritis have more cardiovascular inflammation than healthy subjects and b)3 months of etanercept (enbrel) therapy (prescribed to psoriasis patients with or without arthritis by their treating clinicians) will decrease cardiovascular inflammation.

Encouraged by the recent data published ,the investigators think that a waiting time of 10 minutes is feasible while preserving diagnostic accuracy and would like to assess the feasibility and diagnostic efficacy of W10 compared with W30 imaging in a pilot study. By combining W10 imaging with half-time acquisition, the time of the technetium-99m myocardial perfusion imaging procedure could be shortened by at least 50%, lasting only 40 minutes for W10 (10-minute waiting) imaging compared with 90 minutes for W30 imaging (30-minute waiting). The investigators hypothesize that (1) W10 MPI is clinically feasible and tolerable by the patients, that (2) W10 MPI provides high image quality and that (3) W10 MPI provides diagnostic accuracy comparable to W30 MPI.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether erythrocyte mediated dexamethasone delivery reduces circulating inflammatory markers after coronary stent implantation and improves clinical and angiographic outcomes.

This randomized controlled double-blind intervention study unravels influence of dietary plant sterols and stanols on the structure and the sterol composition of the human aortic valve. The study patients will include 50-60 voluntary patients from the Helsinki Univ. Central Hospital, who will undergo aortic valve surgery. The patients will be randomized into plant sterol (E), plant stanol (A) and control (C) groups. Patients in the E and A groups will be asked to consume daily 2 grams plant sterols or plant stanols, respectively, in a margarine product.