Active clinical trials for "Death"

Palliative care is of great importance because of poor quality of life and high mortality risk in advanced heart failure. This study was planned as a randomized controlled trial to determine the effect of palliative care training on symptom management, rehospitalization, and quality of life among patients with heart failure.

The purpose of this study is to determine if melatonin administration to end-of-life patients is effective in preventing the development of delirium compared with those who do not receive this treatment. Delirium is a difficult to control symptom commonly seen in patients at the end-of-life. A person who is delirious is unable to think clearly and cannot make sense of what is going on around him/her.

Despite advances in treatment of conventional cardiovascular risk factors, patients with kidney disease remain at high risk for fatal cardiac events. To date, kidney disease affects approximately 2 million Canadians; however, this patient population remains grossly understudied due to the complex nature of the disease. The inadequacy of the literature to address the cardiovascular-related mortality rates in those with kidney disease reflects the urgent need for investigation of novel risk factors. One cardiovascular risk factor which has recently been validated is the clinical measurement of cardiac autonomic tone (CAT). CAT refers to the amount of activity contributed by the stimulatory and inhibitory limbs of the cardiac autonomic nervous system, which work in concert with one another to control heart rate. CAT can be quantified computer analysis of heart rate over time, captured by a simple Holter electrocardiogram (ECG) recording. Abnormal CAT, which occurs when the autonomic system does not control heart rate properly in response to physical demands or stress, is associated with risk of adverse cardiovascular events in both healthy and high risk populations. It has recently been shown that patients with severe kidney disease demonstrate significant CAT abnormalities, thus exaggerated susceptibility to cardiac death. Vitamin D (VD) deficiency is also common in this patient population due to the fact that the kidney plays a crucial role in VD metabolism. Given that VD deficiency is an established cardiovascular risk factor on its own, it is possible that kidney disease patients experienced compounded risk due to the combination of VD deficiency and abnormal CAT. However, no study has ever investigated whether VD deficiency influences CAT in healthy or diseased populations. To our knowledge, this will be the first trial to ever examine the effect, if any, of different VD supplementation treatments (standard of care vs. combination) on CAT in a population burdened with overwhelming risk and incidence of cardiovascular and sudden cardiac death risk.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the incidence of recurrent life threatening ventricular arrhythmias in patients with an implanted cardiac defibrillator (ICD) can be reduced if a surgical left stellate ganglionectomy is performed.

Primary Objective: To investigate the efficacy of the standard dose of Thymoglobuline® induction therapy for preventing acute rejection (AR) after transplantation among recipients of Donated after Cardiac Death (DCD) kidney transplant. Secondary Objectives: To evaluate delayed graft function (DGF), graft and patient survival after kidney transplant. To evaluate adverse events of Thymoglobuline® throughout the study. To explore possible risk factors of AR and DGF in patients with DCD kidney transplant. To evaluate AR and DGF under different risk stratifications and explore an description optimal induction therapy regimen for recipients of DCD kidney transplant.

The projects will try and optimise the risk stratification for patients with Long QT syndrome by investigating how the exposure of physical and acoustic stress will affect the QT-dynamics and if beta blockers protect against arrhythmias by suppressing this dynamic QT-prolongation. Furthermore, the project will investigate the effects of Spironolactone on the QT-dynamics tested by "Brisk Standing". First, patients are tested with known arrhythmic triggers and they are then administered thier normal dose of beta blockers. Hereafter, "Brisk Standing" test is performed and the patients are on Spironolactone for seven days. After seven days treatment the "Brisk Standing" is repeated.

The MADIT-II trial has shown that patients with severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) post myocardial infarction benefit from the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). However, retrospective analyses of the MADIT-II data have revealed a significantly increased morbidity and mortality in patients with appropriate ICD therapy: Appropriate ICD therapy is associated with 3.3-fold increased all-cause mortality, and the risk of a first heart failure hospitalization is 90% higher after 1st appropriate ICD therapy. Hence, the 1st appropriate therapy might indicate the necessity and utility of further clinical diagnostics and therapy in these patients. This trial is designed to (i) improve the knowledge of the group characteristics of patients suffering from 1st appropriate ICD therapy, (ii) but moreover to take additional therapeutic steps to reduce the mortality of this patient population.

To improve neonatal mortality, it is critical to engage families, especially mothers, in essential newborn care (ENC) and appropriate care-seeking for neonatal illness as well as to support maternal mental health and self-efficacy. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) aims to determine the effect and mechanisms of a two- way mobile health (mHealth) SMS intervention, Mobile WACh NEO, on neonatal mortality, essential newborn practices, care-seeking and maternal mental health at four sites in Kenya.

This study will explore the feasibility of initiating a uterine transplant program at UNMC. Using the procedural templates established by a successful Swedish team, the investigators will identify emotionally and socially stable females of reproductive age with intact ovaries who are unable to gestate a child due to congenital or acquired uterine factor infertility (UFI). Women will be 21 to 35 years of age upon entry into the protocol, with normal ovarian reserve and otherwise healthy for pregnancy. After careful screening, participants will undergo egg harvest, in-vitro fertilization, and embryo cryopreservation using standard methods. Women who successfully complete in vitro fertilization and cryopreservation of at least six embryos will be eligible to receive implantation of a deceased donor uterus. After a period of observation to ensure normal menstrual cycling and graft viability, embryo implantation will be undertaken. Gestations will be carefully monitored by our high-risk pregnancy specialists. Medical research interventions include uterine harvest from a deceased donor, surgical implantation of the organ utilizing standard transplant techniques, careful post-transplant follow-up including immune suppression therapy tailored to minimize fetal compromise, and careful management of pregnancy. After childbearing is complete (at most two gestations), the donor uterus will be removed. In addition, open-ended interviews and written surveys will be conducted to elicit ethical and psychosocial concerns arising from the experience of subjects and their families, health care providers, and the wider community. The investigators intent is to monitor outcomes lifelong for transplant recipients and live-born infants.

We will study 40 matched patients. 20 patients will receive leukoreduced whole blood from the solid organ donor. These 20 patients will be compared to 20 historical matched controls with regards to allogenic blood product usage and other physiologic markers