Active clinical trials for "Cardiomyopathy, Dilated"

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of using this surgical technique in conjunction with bypass surgery to improve heart function and size, as well as decrease the possibility of future mitral valve surgery.

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 in patients with heart failure of non-ischemic oetiology.

We plan to study the concept of "energy starvation" in heart failure by evaluation of patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NIDCM) (heart failure with reduced heart pump function due to causes other than heart attack). We will use a combination of positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging to study metabolism, anatomy, function, blood flow and efficiency, before and after 6 months' treatment with the drug spironolactone which blocks the deleterious effects of the hormone aldosterone on the myocardium (heart muscle).

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.

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).

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 goal of the current research is to develop personalized risk prediction for functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) patients through explainable unsupervised phenomapping enriched with advanced cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging biomarkers, and to determine the CMR predictors of reverse remodeling following modern therapies for FMR. The prospective study entails aiming to recruit 360 adult patients (ages >18 years) with EF 10-50% and FMR RF> 20%, who are clinically referred for CMR evaluation. Patients who enroll in our study will be referred for optimization of mGDMT and will undergo follow-up CMR studies at 6months. NICM patients who are fully medically optimized with significant FMR at the time of the baseline CMR and are referred for Mitraclip treatment will undergo follow-up CMR 6 months from Mitraclip intervention. NICM patients referred for mGDMT optimization, but have persistent or progressive FMR at the time of 6 month follow-up CMR and referred for Mitraclip therapy, will undergo a 2nd follow-up CMR 6 months from Mitraclip therapy.

Cardiomyopathies are diseases of the heart muscle. Known genetic factors may account for some cardiomyopathy cases but there is still much to understand about the genetic and environmental causes and how the disease progresses. Finding new ways to diagnose and treat cardiomyopathies could improve the health and well-being of patients with these conditions. This study will collect data from individuals with cardiomyopathy or related heart muscle disease, or with a possible genetic predisposition to cardiomyopathy, and follow them over time to observe the progress of their heart and health. This study will collect DNA, blood samples, and detailed clinical & lifestyle information at the start of the study, and data collected during routine healthcare visits over time. learn what causes cardiomyopathy, and therefore how to treat it understand why cardiomyopathy progresses differently in different people, to improve the ability to recognise who will benefit from different treatments at different times The investigators will collaborate with other centres internationally to collect a large of group of participants with similar cardiomyopathies, providing power to identify new pathways that cause disease and ways of predicting which participants are at risk of having more severe disease.

Heart failure affects over 25 million people worldwide and nearly 7 million adults in the United States alone. Nearly 25% of patients with heart failure have worsened disease burden from dyssynchronous ventricular contraction due to abnormal electrical impulse propagation. These patients may benefit from cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) where contraction between the ventricles is coordinated by simultaneous electrical stimulation of the right and left ventricles. In animal models, CRT changes molecular and cellular biology by improving myofilament function, ion channel regulation, beta-receptor signaling, and overall mitochondrial energetics. In randomized clinical outcomes trials, the use of CRT further reduced the incidence of heart failure events and improved overall mortality. However, nearly 75% of patients with heart failure have synchronous ventricular contraction and therefore do not qualify for CRT. CRT profoundly alters underlying molecular and cellular biology as a result of the transition from dyssynchronous to resynchronized contraction, enhancing myocyte function and adrenergic responsiveness. The investigators previously hypothesized CRT-like benefits could be achieved in otherwise synchronous heart failure by purposely inducing dyssynchrony for several hours each day and then reversing this for the remainder of the time. The investigators termed this pacemaker induced transient dyssynchrony, or PITA, and tested its impact in a canine dilated cardiomyopathy model. Following several weeks of rapid atrial pacing to induce heart failure in the animals, the investigators compared implementing 4-weeks of PITA - consisting of dyssynchronous rapid right ventricular pacing for 6 hours each night and atrial pacing for the remaining time - to animals that always received rapid atrial pacing. The fast rate is used to generate a heart failure phenotype. PITA improved chamber dilation, increased beta-adrenergic responsiveness and contractile function, and improved myofiber structure compared to heart failure canine controls. While first tested in an intact conscious translational model, no study has yet investigated PITA in humans. This pilot research protocol tests the feasibility, safety, and tolerability of PITA in humans with dilated cardiomyopathy. The study will leverage pre-existing Medtronic (Mounds View, MN) pacemaker/defibrillators implanted in dilated cardiomyopathy patients based on current clinical guidelines. If successful, this study will allow for a larger, first-in-human study to assess indexes of left ventricular function in dilated cardiomyopathy patients with PITA.

Accumulation of lipid in skeletal and cardiac muscle has been associated with insulin resistance and diabetic cardiomyopathy. In skeletal muscle, lipotoxic damage has been suggested to lead to dysfunction of mitochondria. It remains unknown whether lipotoxicity leads to mitochondrial dysfunction in heart as well, and if so, whether this also leads to cardiomyopathy (failure of the heart). Although it has been shown that lipid lowering agents can improve insulin sensitivity, the effect of lowering free fatty acids on cardiac and skeletal muscle mitochondrial function remains unknown. In this study the investigators want to investigate whether lowering cardiac and muscular lipid content will improve mitochondrial and cellular function in type 2 diabetic patients. To this end, type 2 diabetic patients and body mass index (BMI)-matched controls will be included in a blinded cross-over design, in which subjects will receive a lipid lowering agent (Acipimox) or placebo for 2 weeks in random order. During treatment, diabetes medication will be stopped. Baseline measurements will be performed prior to the study and after each treatment to assess cardiac and muscular lipid accumulation, cardiac function, mitochondrial function and insulin sensitivity.