Active clinical trials for "Heart Failure"

Heart failure is associated with faster breathing, which has a negative impact on the functioning of the heart. This leads to fatigue, shortness of breath, and exercise intolerance. It has been shown that when slow breathing technique was taught to patients with heart failure, they had a reduction in their sensation of shortness of breath and an improvement in their exercise performance. The study will compare the short-term effects of controlled slow breathing with biofeedback in normal healthy subjects, acute heart failure, and chronic stable heart failure. The purpose is to see if there is any change in the objective measurements of heart function while breathing at normal rates compared to a controlled slower rate.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the AdaptivCRT algorithm is at least as good as manual echo based optimization in regard to patient outcomes and cardiac performance

The renin angiotensin system (RAS) plays an important physiological and pathophysiological role in the control of blood pressure and plasma volume. Inhibition of the RAS is useful in the treatment of hypertension, cardiac failure and in some patients with myocardial infarction. Several recent clinical trials with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) have shown that they also reduce the incidence of myocardial infarction, but the mechanisms underlying this anti-ischemic effect are poorly understood. ACEI reduce angiotensin II synthesis and prevent bradykinin degradation. Results from ongoing studies in the Cardiology Branch (Protocol 95-H-0099) designed to investigate the link between ACEI and the vascular endothelium indicate that ACEI improve both endothelial dysfunction and metabolic coronary vasodilation, an effect that is partially mediated by bradykinin. The current protocol is designed to investigate whether the beneficial effects of ACEI on endothelial function are also partly due to inhibition of angiotensin II. The recent development of selective angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor antagonists allows us to specifically examine the effects of angiotensin II on vasomotor activity.

At present, there is some clinical data for different functional response to beta-blockers associated with beta-adrenergic receptor polymorphisms. But there has been no data reported, about the incidence of beta-adrenergic receptor polymorphism and association with beta-adrenergic receptor polymorphism and response to beta-blocker therapy in Korean heart failure (HF) subjects. This single-arm, open-label, multicentric study is designed with the purpose of analyzing the association between genetic polymorphism of beta-adrenergic receptor and the effects of beta-blocker (bisoprolol) in Korean HF subjects.

Background: Patients with heart failure (HF) are at increased risk of developing thiamin deficiency (TD). Thiamin (vitamin B1) is required for the production of energy and therefore TD may contribute to the energy depletion commonly observed in the failing heart. Thiamin supplementation trials to date have shown conflicting results and therefore further studies to explain the impact of thiamin supplementation on HF patients with TD is necessary. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine whether thiamin supplementation in an ambulatory cohort of patients with systolic heart failure will provide any benefit in terms of improved heart function, symptoms, exercise capacity, and quality of life. Description: Patients involved in the study will be given either thiamin supplements or a matching placebo (pills containing no thiamin) for 6 months. The ability of the heart to pump before and after the supplementation will be measured using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)and/or 3D echocardiography. Relevance: This study will determine whether thiamin supplementation improves cardiac function, exercise tolerance and quality of life. Thiamin supplementation is widely available, inexpensive, and safe. Therefore this trial may have a major impact on the optimal management of the expanding population of heart failure patients.

The study is performed to consider the effect of thiamine supplementation on symptoms and signs of patients with heart failure and systolic and diastolic function of left ventricle.

The purpose of this study is to determine if vitamin D will improve physical performance in older adults with heart failure.

This study assessed the interaction between single and multiple doses of aliskiren (150 mg and 300 mg) and furosemide (60 mg) in patients with heart failure.

The investigators' objective is to define the effects of decreasing the furosemide dose on heart, kidney and humoral function in people with compensated heart failure and kidney dysfunction and also in people with compensated heart failure without kidney dysfunction. Secondly, to define the humoral activation in both groups.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of passive exercise on systemic endothelial function in elderly patients with chronic heart failure.