Active clinical trials for "Cardiovascular Abnormalities"

A single arm clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of the second generation TEVG as vascular conduits for extracardiac total cavopulmonary connection.

This is a drug-drug interaction (DDI) study of mirtazapine for methamphetamine (MA) use disorder (MUD) to ensure the safety of this medication in the presence of a relevant dose of MA for people actively-using MA. Aim 1: To determine if mirtazapine alters the cardiovascular response to IV MA. Aim 2: To determine if the pharmacokinetics of IV MA are altered by mirtazapine administration. Aim 3: To evaluate the above aims in the setting of concomitant administration of methadone. This study involves two simultaneous within-subject drug-drug interaction studies, each comprised of 12 participants. A total of 24 subjects will be enrolled who have methamphetamine use disorder who will be classified into 2 groups: (Group 1: no opioids; Group 2: opioid use disorder on methadone maintenance). Subjects will be randomized to the order of mirtazapine and placebo (i.e. one-half will receive mirtazapine first, then placebo; one-half will receive placebo first, then mirtazapine).

Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of the reSept ASD Occluder to treat patients with clinically significant secundum atrial septal defect

Patients with post-Covid-19 syndrome are at high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases 12 months after acute infection of COVID-19. We recently revealed that these patients have elevated muscular sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), vascular dysfunction, impaired cardiac diastolic function, and reduced functional capacity. Considering that these outcomes are independent predictors of cardiovascular mortality, it is urgent to restore the cardiovascular health of these patients. High resistance inspiratory muscle strength training (IMST) at 75% of pressure inspiratory (PImax) performed at home (5 min/session, 5-7 times/week per 6 weeks) reduces the MSNA, improves the endothelial function and lowers blood pressure in different populations. Based on these findings, IMST (75% PImax) is an excellent therapeutic option for patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome. Therefore, the aim of the present proposal is to test whether IMST (75% PImax) reduces sympathetic activity, improves vascular function, and restores cardiac function, evoking an increase in functional capacity in patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome. To test these hypotheses we will conduct a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled clinical trial to test these hypotheses.

In this study the investigators will assess a variety of novel markers of heart strength (contractility) and assess whether they can give a clearer indication of how well patients with weak hearts respond to the TAVI procedure. The investigators will perform a stress echocardiogram prior to each TAVI procedure and measure the global longitudinal strain (GLS) in the left ventricle (LV) heart muscle, a detailed marker of muscle strength. The investigators will then proceed to the TAVI procedure and measure the contractility of the main pumping chamber in the heart before and after giving a very low dose of an adrenaline -like drug (dobutamine). The patient will already have received this short acting drug (at the same and higher doses) during their routine care planning stress echocardiogram.

The aims of this proposal are to: 1) investigate whether individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) demonstrate cardiac autonomic, cerebrovascular, and cognitive dysfunctions compared to non-injured age- and sex-matched controls in the following conditions: supine rest and head-up tilt/face-cooling test; 2) examine if autonomic completeness/ incompleteness, physical activity, and psychological distress are predictors for dysfunctions during supine rest and head-up tilt/face cooling conditions in SCI individuals; 3) examine if one bout of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise temporarily improves cardiac autonomic and cerebrovascular functions and thereby improves cognition when in supine rest and head- up tilt/face cooling conditions. The study will include an initial visit and an experimental visit to our lab. Three groups of participants will be included in this study: Group 1, SCI with acute exercise; group 2, SCI with rest-control; and group 3, age- and sex-matched non-injured individuals. Cardiovascular variables, such as heart rate variability, blood pressure variability, and cerebrovascular variables, such as cerebral blood flow velocity and oxygenated hemoglobin, and cognitive performance will be examined. The investigator hypothesizes that individuals with SCI will have impaired cardiac autonomic, cerebrovascular, and cognitive functions compared to the non-injured controls, and an acute exercise can improve those functions. Autonomic completeness/incompleteness, physical activity, and psychological distress are significant factors that predict cardiac autonomic, cerebrovascular, and cognitive functions in individuals with SCI.

Arrhythmogenic ventricular cardiomyopathy (AVC) is a genetic condition which affects the heart and can lead to heart failure and rhythm problems, of which, sudden cardiac arrest or death is the most tragic and dangerous. Diagnosis and screening of blood-relatives is very difficult as the disease process can be subtle, but sufficient enough, so that the first event is sudden death. The Mayo Clinic AVC Registry is a collaboration between Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA and Papworth Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals, Cambridge, UK. The investigators aim to enroll patients with a history of AVC or sudden cardiac death which may be due to AVC, from the US and UK. Family members who are blood-relatives will also be invited, including those who do not have the condition. Data collected include symptoms, ECG, echocardiographic, MRI, Holter, loop recorder, biopsies, exercise stress testing, blood, buccal and saliva samples. Objectives of the study: Discover new genes or altered genes (variants) which cause AVC Identify biomarkers which predict (2a) disease onset, (2b) disease progression, (2c) and the likelihood of arrhythmia (ventricular, supra-ventricular and atrial fibrillation) Correlate genotype with phenotype in confirmed cases of AVC followed longitudinally using clinical, electrocardiographic and imaging data. Characterize desmosomal changes in buccal mucosal cells with genotype and validate with gold-standard endomyocardial biopsies

Through a randomized, crossover, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, 20 bodybuilders will participate a acute-day trial with two intervention protocols: 1) placebo and 2) nitrate; in which will ingest beet juice with or without NO3 in its composition with a 7-day washout interval.

The goal of this observational cross-sectional study is to analyze the effect of cardiovascular risk factors in healthy and asymptomatic populations. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does the combination of the presence of different risk factors increase the risk for abnormalities appearing on electrocardiograms, such as ischemia, arrhythmia, and hemodynamics effects during and at the peak of effort of treadmill exercise test? What are the main differences observed in the recovery period? Participants will answer an anamnesis of risk factors such as sex, race, age, familiar history of coronary artery disease, overweight or obesity, smoking, stress, and physical activity practice and perform treadmill exercise test on Ellestad protocol. If there a comparison groups: Researchers will compare individuals with most risk factors with those without, to see the cardiovascular responses.

The Cardio-Oncology program at Northwestern offers care to cancer patients who develop cardiac toxicities from chemotherapy. Breast cancer patients with the tumor marker for HER2 necessitate treatment with anthracycline and/or trastuzumab and pertuzumab-based chemotherapies, which are known to cause cardiac toxicities. Breast cancer patients will undergo a "cardio-oncology echocardiogram" which incorporates advanced left ventricular assessment by utilizing deformation or strain imaging during chemotherapy treatment for surveillance of cardiac toxicities. The aims of this project are: To create a registry of both clinical, and echocardiographic variables, biomarkers, and genetic analysis that will be used to develop a risk model to predict LV dysfunction in early stage breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy with anthracycline and/or trastuzumab and pertuzumab-based chemotherapy regimens. To propose a new management algorithm for initiation of prophylactic beta-blocker therapy for early stage breast cancer patients with preclinical cardiac toxicities demonstrated by strain parameters. To determine if initiation of prophylactic beta-blocker therapy in patients with early cardiac toxicity can delay or prevent a drop in LV EF and the development of clinical heart failure. To explore serial measurements of a suite of novel biomarkers during ongoing anticancer treatment that are presumed but not yet proven to be predictive of cardiac dysfunction in women with breast cancer. To identify DNA biomarkers of predilection to cardiotoxicity. To generate hiPSC to validate markers predictive of cardiotoxicity.