Active clinical trials for "Cardiomyopathies"

The heart beat is controlled by electrical signals. Following a heart attack, part of the heart muscle dies and is later replaced by scar tissue. Within this area of scar, there often remain "channels" of surviving tissue still able to transmit electrical signals. However, it is well established that these "conduction channels" (CC) can form a short circuit around the scar, leading to electrical disturbances (arrhythmias) that are potentially life threatening. The commonest of these is ventricular tachycardia (VT), and is estimated to cause 300,000 deaths per year. One recognised treatment option of VT involves burning (ablation) these "conduction channels" (CC) within the scar. However, at present, the procedure is long and is far off 100% effective. Consequently, current best practice does not rely on treating the VT, but rather preventing it from causing sudden death - this is achieved with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD), a device which can recognise when a patient is in VT and deliver an internal shock to restore the normal electrical conduction. Patients with defibrillators subsequently are subject to recurrent painful and debilitating shocks which, although lifesaving, significantly reduce their quality of life. The limitation with ablation at present is due to the difficulty in visualising these CC's. Investigators at Imperial College have created a novel electrogram visualisation program, Ripple Mapping (RM), which they have already found to be superior to currently used programmes in cases of arrhythmias in the upper chambers of the heart (the atria). During a retrospective study in patients with scar related VT following a heart attack, when ablation was delivered in areas associated with identified Ripple Mapping Conduction Channels, these patients remained free of VT recurrence for >2 year follow up interval. The study hypothesis is that Ripple Mapping can identify all conduction channels within scar tissue critical to the VT circuit, ablation of which will lead to long-term freedom from VT and ICD therapies. The investigators now aim to perform a prospective randomised study comparing Ripple Mapping guided VT ablation against conventional VT ablation.

Background and study aim: Heart diseases are among the most common causes of death worldwide. A large proportion of deaths are caused by heart attacks (myocardial infarction), where blood flow to the heart is reduced resulting in damage to the heart muscle. If the arteries supplying blood to the heart start to become blocked, Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgery is a treatment to replace the blocked sections of artery can reduce angina (chest pain). However, CABG surgery has complications, including an increased risk of heart attack. Vitamin D deficiency is thought to be linked to poorer recovery from heart attack and CABG surgery. This study aims to investigate if vitamin D supplementation can reduce injury to the heart following CABG surgery. Who can participate? Adults with vitamin D deficiency undergoing CABG What does the study involve? Participants are randomly allocated to one of two groups. Those in the first group receive vitamin D at 3 doses per day for 3 days before surgery. The second group will receive a dummy pill (placebo). Both groups will have standard CABG surgery. What are the possible benefits and risks of participating? Those in the vitamin D group might benefit from its effects. Vitamin D has few side effects, especially when taken for only a few days. Where is the study run from? Shahid Modarres Hospital (Iran) When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for? September 2017 to January 2019 Who is funding the study? Deputy of Research of Shahid Beheshti School of Medicine Who is the main contact? Dr Erfan Tasdighi erfan.tasdighi@gmail.com

Primary objective: The primary objective of this study is to determine the efficacy of ICD therapy compared with control on the endpoint of death from any cause. Secondary objective: The secondary objectives of the study are to determine if ICD therapy reduces sudden death. Study design: Randomized, unblinded, controlled, parallel two group trial. Primary endpoint: Time to death from any cause. Sample size: In total, 1000 patients with 500 receiving ICD and 500 patients constituting the control group. Summary of Subject Eligibility Criteria: Patients with clinical heart failure, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 35%, non-ischemic etiology and NT-proBNP above 200 pg/ml. Patients in NYHA class IV will only be randomised if also fulfilling criteria for a biventricular pacemaker. Control group: Patients receiving standard therapy for heart failure including ACE-inhibitor/Angiotensin-Receptor-Blocker and Betablocker unless not tolerated. Aldosterone antagonism is optional. Study Duration: The study comprises a screening period of up to 2 years, followed by a treatment phase of a minimum of 36 months. Randomisation: After fulfilling all eligibility criteria, subjects will be randomized 1:1 to receive ICD implantation or continue usual control. Randomisation will be stratified according to treatment with a biventricular pacemaker. Treatment: After randomisation patients allocated to ICD treatment should receive this as fast as possible and preferably within 2 weeks (latest 4 weeks). The ICD will be programmed with anti-tachycardia pacing and shock therapy. Assessments: Deaths and hospitalisations for heart failure, stroke or arrhythmias will be recorded throughout the study duration. Statistical Considerations: Median lifetime in the control group is expected to be 5 years. A p-value of 5% (2-sided) is required for significance together with a power of at least 80%. With a relative risk reduction of 25% a sample size of 812 patients in total is required. In order to allow for cross-over a sample size of 1000 is planned. Primary Endpoint Analysis: The principal analysis for the primary endpoint (time to death from any cause) will employ the intent-to-treat principle and use a survival analysis. Secondary Endpoint Analysis: All time-to-event secondary endpoints will be analyzed similarly to the primary endpoint.

The prevalence of hepatic cirrhosis in Romania is very high, with a 10-year mortality of 34-66%. Upward trend of mortality is observed. It is known that cirrhosis is associated with cardiac abnormalities. These can induce several complications of cirrhosis, and increase postoperative mortality. Therefore, it is a major public health issue and research in this field should be a priority. Few studies evaluated the cardiac function in cirrhotic patients, using only conventional echocardiography. However, this allows only the late diagnosis of cardiac dysfunction, which might be already irreversible. Consequently, description of new parameters, which could detect early dysfunction, becomes essential. There is no study designed to estimate intrinsic myocardial properties in cirrhosis. New methods (Tissue Doppler and Speckle-tracking echocardiography) could be essential to detect early cardiac dysfunction. The exact role of biological markers in the diagnosis of cardiac dysfunction remains to be clarified. Impaired cardiac function coupled with augmented vascular function could be the model for cirrhotic patients. This type of ventriculo-arterial interaction has never been described. The main objectives of our project are: to investigate the mechanisms which lead to cardiac dysfunction; to describe new parameters for the early diagnosis of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy; to describe the type of ventriculo-arterial interaction; the association between biological markers and echo parameters.

The investigator hopes to introduce a novel MRI contrast agent with SeeMore ™ that directly defines viable myocardium. Identifying viable myocardium non-invasively using cardiac MRI is still a moving target and a question we plan to answer more definitively with the SeeMore ™ contrast. Though well tested in small and large animals and Phase I & II clinical trials, the investigators would like to determine the efficacy of the SeeMore contrast further in a clinical setting. SeeMore is a new manganese (Mn)-based intravenous imaging agent being developed to enhance magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). While Mn has long been known to have desirable magnetic and kinetic properties for MRI, use in humans was not initially possible due to cardiovascular depression and electrocardiogram (ECG) changes, including prolongation of PR and QTc intervals, associated with intravenous administration [1-5]. SeeMore provides Mn in a form that maintains the desired magnetic and kinetic properties while overcoming the cardiovascular toxicity of Mn. SeeMore is taken up into heart cells (primarily via addition of calcium to avoid cardiotoxic effects; please refer to US patent #5,980,863). The potential to distinguish healthy heart tissue from unhealthy heart tissue based on a specific sustained pattern of enhancement provides a basis for evaluating the performance of SeeMore in heart patients. It may be possible to enhance the utility of MRI for heart disease through the use of an imaging agent that is specifically taken up into heart cells. SeeMore is the only cardiac-specific agent being developed for this purpose. Unlike nuclear perfusion agents, SeeMore is not radioactive and does not require special handling, shielding, transport or storage. In addition, the specific pattern of enhancement achieved in the heart muscle persists over time, offering potential benefits over the nonspecific extracellular agents currently available for MRI or X-ray/CT procedures. This feature allows full use of the high resolution of MRI, since there is not a trade-off of high spatial resolution for temporal (first-pass) resolution. It is anticipated the features offered by SeeMore along with the high resolution, three dimensional attributes of MRI will result in higher accuracy than is available with other current modalities in practice, including stress echocardiograms, cardiac MRI using gadolinium contrast and nuclear studies such as SPECT and PET. This will be evaluated in this study and serve as the basis for pivotal registration studies. All components of SeeMore™ are USP and are approved for use as drugs in man, orally and/or intravenously.

First, investigators must determine the physiological standards across age classes of myocardial stiffness estimated by Elastography in ultrafast (estimated right ventricular stiffness [VD] and left ventricular [LV]). This will be done in groups of children without heart condition, age group (10 children per group, four age groups [0-1mois, 1 month-1 year 1 year-5 years, 5 years-15years]). Secondly, investigators will evaluate myocardial stiffness Elastography (RV and LV) on different groups of children (same age group) with cardiomyopathy and examine correlations with the conventional parameters of systolic and diastolic function of both ventricles and with myocardial strain values. The total population of the study will be 120 children (40 healthy, 80 patients).

Perioperative cardiac adverse events [heart injuries caused by general anesthesia and surgical procedures] are a significant public health issue, with more than 60,000 deaths per annum in patients having surgery for non-heart related issues. There are virtually no evidence-based medical strategies for effective prevention of these events. Preoperative drug treatment with beta blockade drugs used for high blood pressure, perioperative therapy with lipid lowering drugs such as statins, alpha-receptor agonists such as clonidine used for high blood pressure, and aspirin have all been investigated as potential mitigating treatments, but without positive clinical outcomes and, in some cases, creating more hemodynamic instabilities that result in heart injury. In light of this, investigators propose to evaluate the safety and efficacy of using increasing doses of beta blockade drugs immediately after surgery and to assess the value of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin level testing of the blood in predicting those patients who would benefit most from perioperative beta blocker therapy.

A double blinded and placebo-controlled, dose escalation, single-center safety and preliminary efficacy study of cardiospheres delivered via NOGA MYOSTAR injection catheter in subjects with chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy. The objective is to achieve and document myocardial regeneration in patients with chronic scar.

This study is a global, multi-center study designed to estimate the global prevalence of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) within a clinically at risk population [participants with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)].

This is an observational, retrospective non-inferiority study with a study sample from a large national database. A machine learning (ML) model will use a national database to predict the clinical diagnosis of ATTRwt-CM among HF patients. This study will include HF patients ≥50 years old.