Active clinical trials for "Heart Defects, Congenital"

Our research group has shown that almost all children with congenital heart disease (CHD) are vitamin D deficient following heart surgery. This work strongly suggests that the vitamin D intake presently recommended for healthy children, and also given to children with CHD, is inadequate to prevent vitamin D deficiency following surgery. Unfortunately, there have been no studies investigating any other vitamin D dose in children with heart disease. Recently, a higher dose of vitamin D intake has been approved (by the Institute of Medicine and Health Canada) and recent work on healthy children has shown it to be safe. The objective of this study is to determine whether this recently approved higher dose of vitamin D can safely reduce the number of children who are vitamin D deficient following surgery. This dose evaluation study will also evaluate whether it is possible to perform a large study (across Canada) to determine whether vitamin D supplementation can improve outcomes following surgery. It is hypothesized that a daily high dose vitamin D regimen, modeled on the Institute of Medicine daily upper tolerable intake level (UL), will significantly reduce vitamin D deficiency following CHD surgery, when compared with usual intake.

The study involves documenting the effects of inhaled nitric oxide upon ventricular-arterial coupling in patients with congenital heart disease and passive pulmonary blood flow. Consenting patients undergoing a clinically-indicated cardiac catheterization will be given inhaled nitric oxide for 10 minutes while intraventricular pressure-volume analysis will be make via conduction catheters.

This is a multi-center prospective, single-arm, non-randomized, open label study to assess safety and performance of the Xeltis Pulmonary Valved Conduit in subjects requiring Right Ventricular Outflow Tract correction or reconstruction due to congenital heart malformations.

The purpose of this study is to determine how often heart or chest surgery in children leads to problems with the movement of the vocal folds.

The investigators have recently evidenced the presence of antibodies to endothelial cells and fibroblasts in patients with idiopathic or SSc-associated PAH. The investigators also have identified several target antigens of anti-fibroblasts antibodies. The objective of this study is to further investigate for the presence of antibodies to endothelial cells and fibroblasts in patients and characterize the antigen specificity of autoantibodies in patients with different types of non idiopathic and non SSc-associated PAH, such as PAH associated with HIV infection, porto-pulmonary hypertension, congenital heart diseases, systemic lupus erythematosus, mixed connective tissue disease and Sjögren's syndrome

The purpose of this study is to determine whether inhaled iloprost is safe and effective in pediatric patients with pulmonary hypertension who are sick in the intensive care unit.

Phenoxybenzamine, an irreversible alpha-adrenergic blocker, may prove beneficial to infants and children with congenital heart disease undergoing open cardiac repair, due to a theoretic benefits of a uniform and smooth reduction in systemic vascular resistance in the perioperative period. Vasodilation allows for low pressure, high flow systemic perfusion while on cardiopulmonary bypass. Support for the use of phenoxybenzamine in humans has been documented in several studies involving the perioperative management of both adults and children requiring cardiopulmonary bypass, and in management of patients with pheochromocytoma. 1-7 Phenoxybenzamine has been associated with more uniform body cooling and rewarming, and improved tissue perfusion during bypass.8 It is also known to increase cardiac output, stroke volume, and renal blood flow when given intravenously. 9 Specifically in pediatric open heart surgery, the combined use of phenoxybenzamine and dopamine provided a stable hemodynamic condition without a high total peripheral vascular resistance and stimulated postoperative diuresis. 9 Afterload reduction with parenteral phenoxybenzamine in neonates undergoing the Norwood procedure for hypoplastic left heart syndrome is associated with improved systemic oxygen delivery and stabilization of systemic vascular resistance.10 Furthermore, a strategy of reducing afterload with phenoxybenzamine and stabilizing the pulmonary to systemic flow ratio in this select population of patients has also been shown to improve operative survival. 11 We hypothesize that phenoxybenzamine will reduce afterload on the systemic ventricle in our selected patient population, thereby improving ventricular performance and decreasing the risks of pulmonary to systemic flow imbalance associated with current short-acting vasodilator therapy. We will plan to evaluate both physiologic variables as well as surgical outcomes in the selected study population.

Brain problems occur in neonatal open heart surgery with a frequency of 20-70%, seen on neurological examination, brain imaging such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or long term development problems such as learning disorders and hyperactivity syndromes. This study aims to determine if erythropoetin, a natural hormone made in the body, protects the brain from damage when given in high doses before and during neonatal open heart surgery. We will use brain MRI, brain wave tests (EEG), neurological examination, and long term developmental outcome testing to see if erythropoetin is better than salt water injection (placebo) in protecting the brain.

Remote Ischemic Preconditioning (RIPC) is a treatment that may be associated with improved outcomes after cardiac surgery. It can be elicited noninvasively by using a tourniquet to elicit transient ischemia over a lower extremity. It is thought to promote anti-inflammatory and cell survival pathways, and thus protect remote organs against future ischemic injury. We hypothesize that compared to sham treatment, RIPC will be associated with decreased post-operative acute kidney, myocardial, and lung injury.

Infants with congenital heart disease and increased pulmonary blood flow have altered carnitine homeostasis that is associated with clinical outcomes; and L-carnitine treatment will attenuate these alterations and improve clinical outcomes. The investigators will pilot a trial assessing the safety and pharmacokinetics of perioperative IV L-carnitine administration in these patients. To this end, a pilot clinical trial is proposed. Infants with ventricular septal defects or atrioventricular septal defects undergoing complete surgical repair will receive L-carnitine (25, 50, or 100 mg/kg, IV) just prior to cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and 2hr after CPB. Carnitine levels will be measured before CPB, and before and 0.5, 1.5, 3, 5, 9, 12, and 24h after the second dose. The safety, pharmacokinetic profile, feasibility, and effect of L-carnitine administration on biochemical parameters, as well as clinical outcomes will be determined. The investigators expect this pilot to provide the data needed to proceed with a placebo-based randomized, controlled, trial.