Active clinical trials for "Heart Defects, Congenital"

Congenital heart diseases (CHD) are structural or functional heart diseases that present at birth even if it is discovered later in life . Congenital heart disease is caused by disturbance in the normal development of the heart especially during the first 6 weeks of pregnancy. Researchers aren't sure about the exact cause , but they think genetics , certain medical conditions , some medications and environmental factors, such as smoking, may play a role . CHD in many cases may be asymptomatic and discovered accidently during the routine examination or may be presented by some clinical manifestations (e.g. Cyanosis or Murmers) and /or complications (e.g. Heart Failure Manifestations : Tachycardia , Tachypnea , Dyspnea during feeding , Diaphoresis especially during feeding ,Restlessness, irritability , Hepatomegaly , and Failure To Thrive) . Recently diagnosis of congenital heart disease is better by using advanced technology e.g. echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), cardiac catheterization, angiography, and radio-active isotopes . and early diagnosis is very important as regard the manangement of the disease . As medical care and surgical interventions have advanced over time, the treatment of many abnormalities is now available . and many infants and children with congenital heart defects are living longer and healthier lives. Many are living into adulthood, requiring ongoing, lifelong medical care for their conditions . So information about different aspects of CHD is very important for planning health programs for long-term care and maintenance for these cases .

The goal of this observational study is to compare patients with pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum (PA-IVS) with univentricular circulation to patients with the same heart defect but that has a biventricular circulation in regards to mortality, quality of life, comorbidity, cardiac function, and work capacity. The main questions the study aims to answer are: • Do mortality, quality of life, comorbidity, cardiac function, and work capacity differ between patients with PA-IVS who have univentricular and biventricular circulation? Participants will be asked to answer a Quality of Life questionnaire. The investigators will also inquire with all research subjects about their participation in a series of examinations (ergo-spirometry to assess work capacity, transthoracic echocardiogram and blood sampling to assess cardiac function and cardiac health).

Life expectancy of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) has increased dramatically during the past years, due to the successes of cardiac surgery. Nearly all of these children with CHD can be operated at young age and more than 90% reach adulthood. However, many adults with CHD are life-long affected by cardiac events, particularly arrhythmias and heart failure, putting them at risk of premature death. These events have a large impact on quality of life of patients and their families and merit life-long hospital visits in a medical center specialized in adult CHD. Especially for adults with CHD patient care with a smartphone is suited because of their young age and chronic condition. So far, data are lacking on smartphone interventions in patients with CHD.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) defined as anatomic malformation of the heart and great vessels which occurs during intrauterine development irrespective of the age of presentation(1) It is classified into acyanotic and cyanotic depending upon whether the patients clinically exhibit cyanosis(2) . It is the most common human developmental anomaly with a reported prevalence of between 4 to 10 per 1000 live birth (3-6). The variety and severity of clinical presentation depend on the cardiac structures involved and their functional impact (7). Previous studies have found that, although birth weight for gestational age is usually normal in patients with congenital heart disease, young children often present with impaired growth parameters (8,9) The underlying causes of this failure to thrive may be multifactorial including innate growth potential, severity of cardiac underlying disease, increased energy requirements ,decreased nutritional intake, malabsorption and poor utilization of absorbed nutrients .these factor are particularly common and sever in low and middle income countries (11) Several studies suggest that the failure to thrive is associated with poorer cognitive development, learning disabilities, and long term behavioral problems more recently Corbett et al (12) detected a significant association between the severity of growth deficiency and IQ ,whereas Raynor and Rudolf (13) found that 55% of the infants who were failing to thrive exhibited developmental delay .In addition , A study by Reif et al (14) reported that children with a history of failure to thrive were found to have more learning difficulties and evidenced developmental delay at follow up 5 years after the initial presentation(15). Achieving survival is not the only target of clinicians for these patients, appropriate growth, development and improved quality of life are also very important. The management of children with congenital heart disease require multidisciplinary approach,in which the nutritional aspect plays an important role ,an adequate caloric intake, in fact this improve the out come of these patients.(7) This study will asses the nutritional status for patients with congenital heart disease Who are admitted at assiut university hospital children and adopting a protocol for nutritional support for them.

The purpose of our study is to validate the accuracy of 4D PC flow method in quantification of thoracic and upper abdominal blood flow volumes in children. In this validation study, 4D PC flow method will be applied in 100 pediatric patients undergoing clinically indicated CMR with 2D PC flow measurement.

The department of Congenital Heart Disease of the Ghent University Hospital (Belgium) developed a transition program dedicated to adolescents with congenital heart disease (CHD): 'Transition With a Heart´ (TWAH). TWAH was developed based on the Dutch program 'On your own feet´, starting at the age of 12 years and continuing after transfer. The most vital core components include a general and individualized flowchart, adolescent-centred communication, a joined transfer consultation and an appointed transition coordinator. TWAH focuses on promoting disease knowledge, autonomy and skills development of adolescents with CHD. Interventions encompass the use of a communication-paper, autonomously talking to professionals, individualized education and skills development plan. Interventions were selected from the highest sources of scientific evidence currently available including (quasi-) experimental studies, narrative literature reviews and expert opinions. TWAH is the intervention in the conducted study. Hence, the intervention group are adolescents with CHD and their parents who are participating in TWAH. Adolescents and their parents who are transferred according to standard care (joined transfer consultation only) are identified as the control group and will be examined in the post test phase in order to be able to make comparisons with the intervention group. At baseline (the start of TWAH) participants of the control group already made the transfer to the adult ward. The investigators consider the following hypothetical scenario: - TWAH will have a positive influence on disease knowledge and transition experiences of the participants.

The purpose of this study is to determine if the medication, sildenafil (also known as Revatio), can slow or stop the progression of liver disease in patients who previously had a Fontan operation.

The Just TRAC It! study (Transitioning Responsibly to Adult Care using smart phone technology) is a randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate the impact of using smart phone technology in combination with the nurse led transition intervention, versus the current standard of care (nurse led transition intervention including MyHealth Passport), on preparing adolescents with chronic cardiac disease to successfully transition from pediatric to adult cardiology care. "Just TRAC it!" is a mobile-health intervention designed to teach youth to manage their health using existing functions on their mobile devices. We propose to conduct a nurse-led intervention that encourages adolescents to use "Just TRAC it!" while addressing the healthcare transition needs of 16-18 year olds.

This proposal addresses the major challenge of improving health outcomes for children with cancer and other complex conditions, for whom the effectiveness of outpatient care depends on care coordination across a diverse group of caregivers that includes parents, community support organizations and pediatric care providers. The investigators have developed GoalKeeper, a prototype system for supporting care coordination across multiple care providers. The primary aim of the clinical trial is to assess the potential for this new system, GoalKeeper, to improve meaningful use of goal-centered care plans in the care of children with cancer and other complex chronic conditions.

Recent studies have shown beneficial effects of sildenafil in patients with single ventricle congenital heart disease. The purpose of this study is to determine whether Bosentan, a drug with similar effects, will have similar benefit in this patient population.