Active clinical trials for "Autonomic Nervous System Diseases"

Pharmacologic approaches to increase levels or actions of the vasodilatory peptide angiotensin-(1-7) are currently in development for the treatment of hypertension based on findings from animal models. There are limited and contradictory clinical studies, however, and it is not clear if this peptide regulates blood pressure in humans. The purpose of this study is to better understand the cardiovascular effects angiotensin-(1-7) in human hypertension, and to examine interactions of this peptide with the autonomic nervous system. The investigators propose that the difficulties in showing angiotensin-(1-7) cardiovascular effects in previous clinical studies relates to the buffering capacity of the baroreceptor reflex to prevent changes in blood pressure. Autonomic failure provides the ideal patient population to test this hypothesis. These patients have loss of baroreflex buffering and have low levels of angiotensin-(1-7) in blood. The investigators will test if angiotensin-(1-7) infusion can lower blood pressure in patients with autonomic failure, and will determine the hemodynamic and hormonal mechanisms involved in this effect.

This study will explore whether ivabradine lowers heart rate, and thus improves exercise capacity, in survivors of lymphoma who have an elevated resting heart rate as a side effect of prior radiation treatment. The drugs involved in this study are: Ivabradine Placebo

The purpose of this study is to try different medications in patients with low blood pressure and other problems with their involuntary (autonomic) nervous system. The pharmacological trials in this study will perhaps lead to more effective treatment. The protocol includes single dose trials, dose-selection trials, 5-day trials and chronic (approximately 2 months) trials, although only dose-selection trials were consistently performed and have results presented.

Neurogenic Orthostatic Hypotension (NOH) is clinically defined as a consistent drop in systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥30mmHg upon standing from a seated or lying position. However, 50% of NOH patients also have associated supine hypertension. It has been proposed that supine hypertension is the result of intact post-ganglionic sympathetic nerves and therefore due to residual sympathetic tone. Furthermore, research investigating the effects of melatonin shows blood pressure implication of this naturally secreted hormone. Specifically, melatonin has been investigated as a non-traditional anti-hypertensive agent for patients with essential and nocturnal hypertension. Central and peripheral mechanisms have been proposed to help explain how melatonin reduces blood pressures. Therefore, we aim to identify NOH patients as having either intact or denervated post-ganglionic sympathetic nerves, monitor the correlation to supine hypertension and subsequently investigate the effects of melatonin on blood pressure in these patients.

Within the framework of a prospective double-blind and randomized study evaluating the efficacy of continuous intrathecal baclofen therapy (CIBT) on paroxysmal dysautonomia (main objective) and hypertonia, recovery and tolerance (secondary objectives) during the initial recovery phase of severe head injury, continuous intrathecal baclofen infusion will be delivered. The first week of study is double-blind: the first of two parallel groups receives CIBT and the second group receives placebo. The main outcome (number of neurovegetative episodes) is assessed at the end of first week. The second week of study is open labeled: active treatment is continued in the first group and the second group starts active CIBT treatment. The third week of study, treatment is stopped in both groups.

In asthma, the significant role of pathogenesis is chronic airway inflammation, bronchial hyperresponsiveness, and variable airflow obstruction. Asthma with irreversible or fixed airflow obstruction (FAO) is a clinical phenotype resulting from chronic airway inflammation with having longer disease duration, suggesting that airway remodeling contributes to the decline in lung function seen in individuals with asthma. Although this condition frequently occurs in patients with severe asthma, there are pieces of evidence occurring in those with mild to moderate asthma. According to previous research, low lung function, FEV1 less than 60% predicted, is a robust independent predictor of subsequent asthma attacks and other asthma outcomes, including asthma control and SABA use. In a recent study, the patients with mild to moderate asthma who received mild to medium dosed inhaled corticosteroid plus long-acting beta-2 agonist with or without asthma control showed evidence of FAO with or without bronchodilator reversibility. Therefore parasympathetic activity may be affected by FAO in those patients. The autonomic nervous system plays an essential role in asthma, especially from the parasympathetic, promoting bronchoconstriction and regulating airway inflammation and remodeling. This study hypothesizes that a cholinergic mechanism may play a significant role in FAO across patients with mild, moderate, and severe asthma. This might increase the fundamental evidence leading to early-step treatment with anti-cholinergic medication in early asthma severity driven by FAO.

Autonomic modulation by transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation in acute ischaemic stroke requiring mechanical thrombectomy: a phase IIa, sham controlled randomised trial.

Background. Heart rate variability (HRV) and skin conductance (SC) highlight autonomic activity and the balance of autonomic nervous system (ANS) which regulates involuntary physiological functions. The modulation of ANS tonic activity is a target of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT). The main aim of the present study was to verify whether CV4 and RR osteopathic techniques influence ANS activity. Trial design. A randomized-controlled clinical trial was performed from June 2010 to January 2011. Methods. 32 healthy adults were selected. At enrollment, all healthy subjects were randomized in three groups: CV4 group (CV4 technique), Rib Raising group (RR technique), and Placebo group (PL technique). HRV and SC was recorded during the session respectively with heart rate monitor Polar S810i and with Onda Scanner Domiana (OSD-Microsale model). All data analysis was performed using SPSS statistical software and the significance level set at p≤0.05.

Drainage manoeuvres described in different Manual Lymphatic Drainage methods, suggest modificactions in vital signs, by changes at nervous system, that would involve modifications to heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, cardiac vascular level (arteries and lymphatics). In addition this hypothetical relaxing effect could be beneficial for other types of pathologies associated with the presence of stress, cardiac problems, respiratory pathology, muscle tension, muscle trigger points, etc. With this study investigators compare different manoeuvres in the neck area to observe the results in the participants regarding the basal state.

Stress (tako-tsubo) cardiomyopathy (SC) is a rapidly reversible form of acute heart failure reported to be triggered by stressful events and associated with a distinctive left ventricular (LV) contraction pattern. SC mimics acute coronary syndrome and is accompanied by reversible left ventricular apical ballooning in the absence of angiographically significant coronary artery stenosis. sympathetic activity dysfunction appears to play a very important role in the pathophysiology of takotsubo cardiomyopathy. In most cases, myocardial scintillography with 123Imetaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) showed altered captation of the radiotracer in several heart segments. In particular, the apical myocardium has poor sympathetic innervations and an uptake reduction in MIBG tracer. A hypothesis for this finding could be that the intense discharge of adrenalin, acting on heart segment with different and abnormal innervation, may produce a transient heart failure characterized by a particular shape of the left ventricle. While studies have shown that heterogeneous MIBG distribution, decreased MIBG uptake and increased norepinephrine content were completely prevented by α-lipoic acid or by L-acetyl carnitine administrations in diabetic cardiomyopathy, no studies have examined the effects of these therapies on tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy. On this basis, the investigators study will evaluate whether the dysfunction of adrenergic cardiac innervation, evaluated by MIBG, persist after previous experience of transient stress-induced cardiac dysfunction. Moreover, the investigators will assess whether the medications that restore sympatho-vagal alterations in diabetic cardiomyopathy, such as α-lipoic acid and L-acetyl carnitine, will improve the adrenergic cardiac innervation, in patients with SC.