Active clinical trials for "Heart Failure"

The aims of the present study are to investigate prospectively the clinical course and outcome of the hospitalized heart failure patients treated with tolvaptan for management of fluid retention and serum sodium levels of less than 140 mEq/L and also to analyze the factors related with the efficacy including outcome of tolvaptan therapy.

This is an investigator-started study. The trial is coded as no. GC&PJ-Dig-Iva2009-2012. The authors have no conflict of interest and there was no financial sponsoring The study was planned according to the Good Clinical Quality standards using an intention-to-treat analysis. The protocol was approved from the ethics committee. Selected patients gave their written informed consent. The family practitioners agreed and obtained the collected data and analysis. Analysis of collected data was performed by a single-blinded author (without knowledge of the used test drug and time of collection of data). Study Hypothesis: Compare the effect of digoxin and ivabradine in chronic heart failure with permanent atrial fibrillation (ischemic etiology). Multiple Time Frames: Primary Outcome is measured before and after each medical intervention. Measurements at baseline and after 3 month of therapy (twice, with the 2 different drugs): Measurements Severity of dyspnea. Digoxin serum concentration. ECG: Heart rate at rest and during 6-min walking test. Cardiac function (echocardiography): systolic function (ejection rate, left trial size,diastolic function. Participants were followed (ambulatory observation) for at least 3 months

There is evidence to suggest that patients make different end-of-life decisions if they understand the risks, benefits and alternatives of CPR and mechanical ventilation. This study will examine whether evidence-based informed consent impacts patients choices and healthcare outcomes compared to routine care.

The congestive heart failure (HF) is a condition associated with substantial morbidity, mortality, and high healthcare expenditures. From the pathophysiological standpoint, several mechanisms contribute to the progression and dysfunction of the failing heart such as an increased hemodynamic overload, impaired myocyte calcium cycling, upregulated apoptotic activity, deficient or increased production of extracellular matrix, genetic predilections and, finally, excessive neurohumoral stimulation. The vasoactive neurohumoral systems such as sympathetic nervous system, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) system all play a role in maintaining volume and circulatory homeostasis in the situation of impaired cardiac output. Catestatin (CST), on another hand, is a novel endogenous peptide cleaved from chromogranin A (CgA) that is involved in the regulation of cardiac function and arterial blood pressure. The role of this peptide is to elicit potent catecholamine release-inhibitory activity by acting at the level of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Therefore, the main hypothesis of this study is that the observed serum CST levels will reflect the degree of neurohormonal activation in HF, showing a significant relationship with the degree of disease severity as measured by relevant functional classifications (such as NYHA class and/or similar). Secondly, investigators expect to detect correlation of catestatin serum levels with the established risk stratification scores in HF and with the echocardiographic parameters of the ventricular function, both in terms of systolic and diastolic cardiac function. Parameters of inflammation, NT-proBNP, hs-cTnI, renal function parameters, and basic hematologic/biochemistry indices from peripheral blood will also be obtained and analyzed for all study participants. Furthermore, according to the latest European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic HF, participants with established congestive HF and the whole spectrum of left ventricular ejection fractions ranging from <40% to ≥50% will be included in the study. Finally, all echocardiographic and laboratory parameters obtained from peripheral blood will be recorded and compared with respective healthy and matched control participants while participants diagnosed with HF will additionally be analyzed for potential differences between subgroups of interest.

Introduction: Cardiac sympathetic drive provides inotropic support to the failing heart and preserves cardiovascular homeostasis. Nonetheless, as myocardial insult evolves, this compensatory response leads to a progressive decline in contractile function, increases the vulnerability to arrhythmias and constitutes an independent mortality predictor. Despite advanced pharmacological therapies, side effects and persistent cardiac sympathetic overdrive highlights the modulation of the adrenergic system as a primary target for non-pharmacological strategies in the heart failure (HF) treatment. In this scenario, we will propose cervicothoracic transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) as a non-pharmacological therapy to attenuate cardiac sympathetic overdrive in patients with heart failure. Methods: In this prospective, randomized, sham-controlled, double-blind crossover trial, ten (10) HF patients under optimal pharmacological treatment will be randomly assigned to either an in-home cervicothoracic transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation therapy (TENS: 30 min twice a day with 80 Hz frequency and pulse duration of 150 μs) or a sham control intervention (SHCI) for two weeks. Following a two-month washout phase from TENS/SHCI, patients crossed over and started the opposite condition. Washout rate and heart-to-mediastinum ratio (planar 123l-metaiodobenzylguanidine myocardial scintigraphy images), indexes of cardiac sympathetic activity and innervation density, muscle sympathetic nerve activity (microneurography) and brachial artery blood flow (Doppler ultrasound) during dynamic handgrip exercise will be obtained at the beginning and end of each condition.

The Alexa+ Study will compare the use of the Amazon Echo Dot with Alexa voice technology in patients with chronic heart failure to those receiving standard of care heart failure management on changes in health and patient-centered outcomes.

Several drugs and chemotherapies seem to induce myocarditis. This study investigates reports of myocarditis, including the International classification of disease ICD-10 for treatments in the World Health Organization (WHO) global Individual Case Safety Report (ICSR) database (VigiBase).

This study will test the quality of physician care decisions using a patient-simulation based measurement and feedback approach that combines multiple-choice care decisions with real-time, personalized scoring and feedback. The study will also measure the impact of gaming-inspired competition and motivation, including a weekly leaderboard, to improve evidence-based care decisions. In addition, the study the test the impact of CME and MOC credits on participant engagement in the process.

This is a prospective, randomized, wait-list controlled study examining the impact of providing medically appropriate meals to patients discharged from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital after acute decompensated heart failure. Upon discharge, patients will be randomized to either the intervention or wait list control arm. The intervention is the delivery of medically appropriate meals and groceries to patients' homes in a tapered manner over five months (the equivalent of three meals a day for 60 days, then the equivalent of two meals a day for 30 days, then the equivalent of one meal a day for 60 days) and monthly assessments with a registered dietician (RD). All food and RD assessments are administered via a community partner, Project Open Hand, as a modification of current offerings for clients at Project Open Hand. Subjects randomized into the wait list control arm will receive the food intervention five months after discharge. The study's primary aim is to examine the impact of nutritional support on the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire scores. In addition, the study aims to examine the impact of nutritional support on healthcare utilization (particularly readmission rates and emergency room utilization), dietary change, medication adherence, and quality of life.

This study is designed as a multi-center prospective observational study of newly diagnosed Heart Failure (HF) patients to test the hypothesis that additional Ejection Fraction (EF) recovery occurs between 90 and 180 days as Guideline Directed Medical Therapy (GDMT) is achieved. Although the study doesn't start until day 90, all eligible, consenting patients will be entered into a registry at the start of wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD) use. The pre-study registry will allow us to collect early (90 day) outcomes and data in those patients who are likely to be eligible for the study at day 90, or are eligible, but refuse the study at day 90.