Active clinical trials for "Heart Failure"

The CARRYING ON for heart failure (HF) study is a national, prospective, post market interventional, multi-center, open-label, pilot trial.The purpose of the study is to assess a short term and a long term period, incidence of pre-specified clinical and arrhythmic events in patients with a low ejection fraction (EF) that are hospitalized for acute cardiac decompensation.

The European CRT survey represents a joint initiative between two ESC associations; the Heart Failure Association and the European Heart Rhythm Association. The survey will be performed in collaboration with The Institute für Herzinfarktforschung in Ludwigshafen which will handle the data collection and data analysis.

To identify the role of salt-sensitivity of blood pressure in the pathogenesis of hypertension.

Acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) is the leading cause of admission to hospital in the US, and is associated with high mortality, morbidity, and major cost to the health care system. Much of this cost relates to prolonged hospitalizations from acute deterioration in kidney function (AKI), which in turn is associated with further cardiovascular events such as recurrent ADHF. Strategies for early detection minimization and prevention of AKI would therefore be of tremendous benefit to both the patient and the health care system. A common reason for hospitalization in ADHF is that of altered volume status and renal impairment. Also, many patients with ADHF have underlying hypertension and/or a recent acute coronary syndrome. Hypertension, diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and diabetes is the leading cause of CKD. Therefore, patients presenting with ADHF are at high risk for CV events, more so if they develop AKI. Therefore, strategies to detect changes in renal status early may allow for more rapid intervention with appropriate drug and other therapies to attenuate AKI and subsequent complications, which may in turn result in prevention of early readmissions with HF. Most ADHF patients have underlying chronic heart failure (CHF). CHF is a major cost to the health care system. About two thirds of this cost relates to hospitalization for acute deterioration in heart failure (HF). Strategies to minimize or prevent HF hospitalization therefore are of tremendous benefit to both the patient and the health care system. The most frequent reason for hospitalization in a CHF patient is that of altered volume status and renal impairment. Therefore, as with ADHF, strategies for early detection of changes in renal status may allow for intervention with appropriate drug and other therapies to attenuate, or even prevent, the need for the patient to return to hospital. Many approaches have been studied in relation to this concept. Deterioration in renal function is a harbinger of a need for hospitalization, and indeed a predictor of medium term mortality. However, current measures of renal function are relatively crude with a considerable lag between an insult to the kidney and its translation to a measurable deterioration in renal function reflected by worsening serum creatinine. Thus, diagnostic tests that evaluate renal injury which are modulated early in the time course of this process may have considerable utility not only in the ADHF setting but also in predicting decompensation in the CHF setting.

The purpose of the study is to demonstrate the value of the Medtronic CareLink® Network in clinical practice in the country specific healthcare setting.

The primary goal of this study is to develop techniques to identify the course of the phrenic nerve in patients already undergoing cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) implantation or candidates for future CRT devices undergoing implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or pacemaker implantation. Specifically, the study intends to identify the location and course of the left pericardiophrenic vein, and thus the left phrenic nerve, to guide the location for coronary vein lead placement and minimize the risk of phrenic nerve stimulation.

At present, there is not accurate way to determine specific flow rates for axial flow ventricular assist devices (VADS). If a right heart cath is needed for these patients for clinical purposes, they will also undergo a cardiac CT scan while the pulmonary artery catheter is in place. It is possible to visualize the flow rates of axial flow VAD's and determine a more accurate rate per specific patient. Data Analyzed with following results: Article in Press for Cardiopulmonary Support and Physiology, results state "Pairwise comparison of calculated output from left ventricular assist devices is feasible using first pass dynamic computed tomography test bolus technique versus thermodilution output measurements yielded good agreement (P=.03). The output calculated using dynamic CT underestimated the thermodilution output measurement by 0.54+ 0.37 L/min (95% confidence interval 0.66-0.94).

This research study is designed to evaluate the accuracy of the techniques that are used to analyze heart function. The main purpose of this study is to analyze and compare three different methods of assessment of regional and overall heart function.

This study will collect data on a new feature for future heart failure devices via an external non-implantable system.

Heart failure is a progressive disorder in which the weakened heart is not able to efficiently pump blood throughout the body. When the body's cells do not receive enough blood, this can result in fatigue, shortness of breath, and difficulty carrying out daily activities. The left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is a device that is used to provide mechanical circulatory support to patients with end-stage heart failure who are awaiting heart transplants. Although LVAD support helps maintain the pumping ability of the heart and dramatically improves heart failure symptoms, the quality of life with LVAD support is far from ideal. It has been shown that LVAD support in selected patients may restore the failing heart enough to eliminate the need for heart transplant, but more information is needed to assess heart recovery and to guide weaning of LVAD support. Using data collected from patients who have undergone LVAD implantation, this study will attempt to better assess heart recovery and to generate criteria for identifying patients eligible for the removal of LVAD support.