Active clinical trials for "Heart Failure"

This is an observational study evaluating changes in frailty and associated impairments in older heart failure patients receiving left ventricular assist device therapy.

Compromised tissue oxygenation during surgery may negatively influence patient outcome. Primary cause of insufficient tissue oxygenation is reduced cardiac output due to hypovolemia and/or reduced cardiac contractility. In cardiac surgery patients especially, postoperative pericardia effusion and/or tamponade may further compromise cardiac function. Today, hemodynamically instable patients are often monitored by means of pulmonal artery catheters or transpulmonary thermodilution. However, these methods only allow quantification of functional limitations. Underlying causes may be investigated by relatively recent technology through hemodynamically focussed transesophageal echocardiography (ClariTEE(R) ImaCor) that also provide the possibility of continuous monitoring. It has been reported that a training program consisting of six hours may enable physicians who are unexperienced in the field of echocardiography to apply this new method. Up to now, there is no evidence whether this methods is associated with improved postoperative outcome. Therefore we hypothesize that continuous hemodynamically focussed transesophageal echocardiography positively influences patient outcome (primary hypothesis). Furthermore, its application may decrease hospital expenses (secondary hypothesis).

Advanced heart failure therapy (heart transplantation or LVAD) is underutilized and patients are underserved. The purpose of this prospective, observational study is to obtain multi-center data on the proportion of patients with CRT and/or ICD who are candidates for advanced heart failure treatment and obtain insights into patient and physician decisions regarding referral for advanced heart failure therapy.

Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) is a widely accepted treatment that has led to improved clinical outcomes for patients with refractory congestive heart failure (CHF), systolic dysfunction, and wide QRS duration. However, it requires implantation of an expensive device ($30,000) and about 1/3 of patients do not have clinical improvement. Inadequate amounts of LV dyssynchrony or suboptimal lead placement may limit clinical response. Dual-Source computed tomography (DSCT) allows for subtle detection during myocardial contraction for assessing LV dyssynchrony, and can also assess coronary venous anatomy and scar burden. Thus DSCT may be the ideal noninvasive modality to predict response to CRT.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether nutritional status or body composition influences the prognosis of heart failure patients.

The present proposal is designed to investigate the response to CRT in patients who were previously paced from the right ventricle (RV). The negative physiologic and structural changes associated with chronic RV pacing are well documented, but patient response following upgrade to CRT after chronic RV pacing has not been well characterized in a large cohort.

This pilot study proposes to perform measurements of approved thoracic impedance technology that will help answer questions in patients with decompensated heart failure.

this study aim to investigate the: association of RAAS polymorphisms and AHF association of MMP 3 and 12 polymorphisms and AHF

Recent experimental and clinical data suggest a benefit of levosimendan on the kidney function. Therefore, this retrospective, single center, matched-pairs analysis aimed to investigate whether administration of levosimendan was associated with improved renal function in cardiac surgery patients.

The purpose of this study is to be able to better describe the incidence, timing and severity of myocardial dysfunction and acute kidney injury (AKI) following a documented respiratory viral illness (RSV, adenovirus, metapneumovirus, parainfluenza, influenza, etc.) in pediatric patients.