Active clinical trials for "Cerebrovascular Disorders"

Sleep apnea is common among Veterans with cerebrovascular disease (stroke or transient ischemic attack [TIA]), leads to hypertension, and is associated with recurrent stroke and death. Although continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) safely treats sleep apnea, few Veterans with cerebrovascular disease are diagnosed with sleep apnea or offered treatment.

The aim of the current protocol is to study 40 patients, each for 12 weeks, to address hypotheses related to the ability of a telerehabilitation system to (a) improve motor status and disability, (b) collect various forms of patient data from the home, (c) improve risk factor knowledge and control, and (d) assess patient compliance with home-based telerehabilitation. Patients who have returned to their home after stroke will be provided with a telehealth system and be asked to use it 6 days/week for 12 weeks, during which time subjects will use this system for daily rehabilitation therapy, assessments, and education--all on one platform.

Akershus Cardiac Examination (ACE) 1950 Study is a large, observational, prospective, longitudinal, population-based cohort study. The overall aim is to establish an extensive cardio- and cerebrovascular age cohort of elderly subjects for various longitudinal long-term follow-up studies of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease.

BACKGROUND - Approximately 1,700 transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs) occur annually in NI with TIA survivors often being left with considerable functional impairment. TIA and strokes share common risk factors with cardiovascular disease. Cardiac rehabilitation post-myocardial infarction has shown significant reductions in morbidity and mortality, with home-based programmes producing better adherence and similar outcomes to hospital-and community-based programmes. However, the value of rehabilitation programmes for stroke prevention following a TIA or minor stroke is unclear. AIMS - to determine if a novel rehabilitation programme, 'The Healthy Brain Rehabilitation Manual', for TIA/minor stroke patients can be developed, using MRC guidelines for developing complex health service interventions, from an approved home-based cardiac rehabilitation programme (the 'Heart Manual') and to undertake feasibility and pilot studies of the novel programme. METHODS-All patients attending a TIA clinic in Belfast within 4 weeks of their first TIA/mild stroke will be invited to participate. The novel home-based programme manual will be developed following systematic reviews of the literature and qualitative exploration with the target population, using focus groups. A feasibility study will initially be undertaken lasting 6 weeks and then developed into a pilot trial of 12 weeks duration. The feasibility will recruit to 3 different treatments: (1) standard care; (2) standard care plus the manual; (3) standard care, manual plus a pedometer. Whilst for the pilot study there will also be 3 arms but this will include: 1) control group; 2) manual and pedometer supported by telephone follow-up with a GP; 3) manual and pedometer supported by telephone follow-up with a stroke nurse. Interviews and focus groups will be employed to assess the interventions' acceptability. The intervention, 'The Healthy Brain Rehabilitation Manual' will be refined and modified at all stages of the research. CONCLUSIONS - The findings will inform the development of a novel secondary prevention programme, 'The Healthy Brain Rehabilitation Manual', for TIA/minor stroke patients and of a trial to test its effectiveness and longer-term potential to improve outcomes for TIA/stroke patients.

Primary research question: For adults surviving spontaneous (non-traumatic) symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage with persistent/paroxysmal atrial fibrillation/flutter (AF), does starting full treatment dose oral anticoagulation (OAC) result in a beneficial net reduction of all serious vascular events compared with not starting OAC? Trial design: Investigator-led, multicentre, randomised, open, assessor-masked, parallel group, clinical trial of investigational medicinal product (CTIMP) prescribing strategies. Investigators plan for a pilot phase, followed by a safety phase.

Chronic damage to small blood vessels deep in the brain is seen in half of patients over the age of 60 and almost all patients over the age of 80, and is responsible for up to a third of strokes and almost half of patients with dementia. However, there is limited evidence for how small vessel disease develops and no specific treatment. One potential explanation is that greater pulsations in blood pressure are transmitted to the brain through stiff blood vessels, resulting in increased pressure hitting the brain each time the heart beats and reduced blood flow between heart beats. Sildenafil is used to open up blood vessels (a vasodilator) in patients with erectile difficulties or poor blood supply to the lungs. This trial will test sildenafil (50mg, thrice daily) against placebo and a similar drug (cilostazol 100mg, twice daily) in 75 patients with previous stroke or mini-stroke and small vessel disease, given in random order to every participant for 3 weeks each. It will primarily assess changes in pulsations of blood flow to the brain on each tablet, measured with an ultrasound scanner (transcranial ultrasound). To understand why any changes occur, we will also measure the stiffness of arteries, the blood pressure at the heart and how much blood vessels in the brain open up when participants breathe air with added carbon dioxide (6%), using ultrasound in all participants and on MRI brain scans in 30 patients. This study will test whether a vasodilator used in other conditions with a good safety profile can reduce pulsations in blood flow to the brain, to assess whether it is a good candidate drug to reduce the progression of small vessel disease in future clinical trials. This would be the first effective treatment for a condition associated with a very high burden of disability.

To determine whether warfarin or lovastatin alone or in combination retarded the progression of atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid arteries of high risk individuals with asymptomatic carotid stenosis. Also, to determine if a full scale trial was feasible.

The purpose of this study is to study the effects of intermittent whole-body hypoxic preconditioning on patients with carotid artery stenosis.

Interventionnal Study to investigate the accuracy of our clinical based algorithm performed by using a visioconference device to assess the eligibility of acute recanalisation treatment (intraveinous thrombolysis (IVT) and/or mechanical thrombectomie (TM). Clinical identification of type of treatment is needed is pre-hospital triage of these patients.

Stroke is one of the most frequent and life-threatening diseases in Europe. About four stroke events occur per day in Luxembourg alone, and about 30% of these patients are affected by recurrent stroke within the following five years. Thus, new methods of primary and secondary prevention are needed to better control lifestyle-related risk factors. The development and maintenance of a healthy lifestyle (smoking cessation, healthy nutrition, moderate physical exercises etc.) is a major objective concerning the primary and secondary prevention of cerebro- and cardiovascular diseases. CAPSYS is a computer-based lifestyle coaching system developed by researchers from the Public Research Centre (CRP) Henri Tudor in Luxembourg in collaboration with neurologists from the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL), which aims at supporting patients in performing appropriate behavior changes in order to minimize their individual risk factors. Patients can access CAPSYS by dialing a local-rate telephone number and answer to a set of previously known questions concerning their current nutrition, physical activity, blood pressure, smoking etc. In an interactive voice response approach, questions are issued by the system in natural language using text-to-speech, and the patient can provide the required values using the phone keypad. Based on the gathered values for each patient, the system automatically generates personalized verbal feedback at runtime and presents it to the patient during the phone dialog. Depending on the individual development of the patient's risk factors, the system feedback can contain advice for improvement, praise for healthy behavior and motivation to pursue a certain goal. The user acceptance and effectiveness of the CAPSYS system is evaluated in a six-month randomized controlled study with participants recruited at CHL's neurology department.