Active clinical trials for "Heart Failure"

Introduction: Heart failure (HF) is characterized by an increasing prevalence and burden, representing a public health problem and a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Self-care is a cornerstone approach for optimizing therapy for patients with HF; patients play a key role in the management of their condition, given that several negative health outcomes might be avoided with effective self-care. Motivational interviewing (MI) has been described by the literature as highly favorable for treating chronic diseases, with promising results supporting its efficacy in enhancing self-care. Moreover, caregivers' availability constitutes a fundamental supporting factor among the strategies to improve self-care behaviors in people with HF. Methods and analysis: This study protocol designed a prospective, parallel-arm, open-label, three-arm, controlled trial for purposing the aims to test the efficacy of a structured program including scheduled MI interventions in improving self-care behaviors among patients with HF at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months from the enrolment. Secondary aims comprehend the corroboration of the superiority of caregivers' participation to the structured program including scheduled MI interventions over the program administrated only to individual patients in enhancing self-care behaviors and other outcomes. Analyses will be performed within the framework of intention-to-treat (ITT). Comparisons between groups will be based on an alpha = 5% and two-tailed null hypotheses. In the case of missingness, analyzing the extent of the missingness and identifying underlying mechanisms and patterns will guide imputation methods. Ethics and dissemination: The study protocol and template consent forms have been reviewed and approved by the Ethical Committee of San Raffaele Hospital (approval #74/INT). Also, the study protocol has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: …….). Patients and caregivers will have to sign the informed consent forms before the randomisation. Patients and caregivers may leave the study at any time. The withdrawal from the study will not imply any prejudice, as fully documented and explained in the informed consent. Considering the open-access publication, the full protocol will be available freely.

SUMMARY Rationale Patients with heart failure may suffer from a poor quality of life (QoL) due to frequent hospital admittance, medication intake, and symptoms as a result of progression of their disease. The general salt intake in the Dutch population is too high, leading indirectly to hypertension resulting in worsening of cardiovascular disease such as heart failure. Patients with heart failure are highly salt sensitive. A quarter of the daily salt intake originates from bread. Salt restriction is difficult to maintain. The aim of this study is to lower the daily salt intake by providing a palatable low salt bread to patients with heart failure. This may lead to a stable disease and therefore an improvement in quality of life. Objective The aim of this study is to investigate whether substitution of normal bread by a new palatable form of low salt bread is effective in reducing salt intake in patients with chronic heart failure. The investigators will evaluate the effectiveness, the compliance and the outcome of the presumed salt reduction. Study design This is a single center, randomized, double blinded, cross-over trial with a follow-up period of twelve weeks performed in VieCuri, Medical Centre in Venlo. Study population In this study, 20 patients visiting the outpatient clinic with heart failure NYHA class 3-4 will be included. All patients are 18 years or older. Intervention Given the study design all 20 patients receive a low salt bread (0.05 gram sodium per slice) for one period and received bread with a normal amount of sodium (0.35 gram sodium per slice) in the other period. After six weeks follow up, the groups change the intervention. Main study parameters/endpoints The investigators expect a reduction of daily salt intake of 1.5 gram sodium by an average of 5 slices bread a day. Nature and extent of the burden and risks associated with participation, benefit and group relatedness Patients should visit the hospital three times. Prior the hospital visit they have to collect 24- hour urine. During all visits blood samples will be taken and a physical exam is performed. Also blood pressure will be measured. Most of these parameters are also collected for clinical purposes. Patients should at the same time report their daily intake in a personal food diary and fill in questionnaires about their opinion of the bread and quality of life.

A randomized controlled study to examine the effect of a nurse-led, home/telephone or telephone-only educational intervention on outcomes of heart failure patients and their caregivers.

Despite advances in care, prognosis remains poor once overt Heart Failure (HF) has developed. Prevention is most efficient when directed toward patients at risk and when mechanistically targeted to patients most likely to respond. An increase in myocardial and possibly vascular collagen content (fibrosis) may be a major determinant of the transition to HF. In patients with hypertension and diabetes, two important risk-factors for HF, changes in blood markers of fibrosis occur before clinically overt HF develops. These markers are also related to prognosis. In the general population, Galectin-3 (Gal-3), a potential marker of fibrosis, is associated with cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, and predicts development of HF. In animal models, Gal-3 is a key mediator of aldosterone-induced CV and renal fibrosis and dysfunction. The investigators hypothesize that the mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA), spironolactone, may prevent HF by acting on extracellular matrix remodelling, especially in patients with active fibrogenesis, identified by high Gal-3 levels. The benefit/risk ratio of spironolactone might be superior in patients with a higher compared to lower plasma concentrations of Gal-3. Main objective is to investigate whether spironolactone can favourably alter extra-cellular matrix remodelling, assessed by changes in the fibrosis biomarker Procollagen Type III N-Terminal Peptide (PIIINP), in patients at increased risk of developing heart failure and whether this effect is greater in patients with increased plasma concentrations of Gal-3.

Home-based rehabilitation programs have not been widely few been studied and the training effects are not unclear. This study evaluates the beneficial effects of home-based cardiac rehabilitation on quality of medical care in patients with chronic heart failure.

The aims of this study will be to evaluate the effect of motivational interviewing (MI) to improve self-care in heart failure (HF) patients and caregiver contributions to HF self-care. Also this study will evaluate the effect of MI on the following secondary outcomes: In HF patients: HF somatic symptom perception, generic and specific quality of life, anxiety and depression, sleep quality, mutuality with caregiver, hospitalizations, use of emergency services, and mortality; In caregivers: generic quality of life, anxiety and depression, mutuality with patient, preparedness, social support and sleep quality.

The objective of the BOSS Study is to assess acute anatomical and geometric annular and ventricular changes that occur when strategically positioned an external inflatable chambers are applied to the outside of the heart.

The primary study goal is to explore the influence of pharmacist interventions on the effectiveness of warfarin treatment in a specific subpopulation.

Acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) is a health problem of great magnitude, because it is the most frequent cause of hospitalization of patients over 65 years old. Of these patients, more than 50% will be readmitted within the next six months with the consequent worsening prognosis, increased mortality and high costs associated. In fact, two-third parts of the costs of this condition are due to hospitalizations. Hence the increased importance of ADHF and its associated hospitalizations as an essential event in the natural history of the disease on to address therapeutic efforts. However, at the present time there is a change of scenario that makes that more than half of these patients show HF with preserved ejection fraction (PEF), so that acute heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (AHF-PEF) is a fact with high prevalence and epidemiological relevance. To this the investigators must add that, unlike patients with depressed EF, HF-PEF has no therapeutic strategies that may have proven a recovery of the affected patients. All this makes that overall heart failure with PEF and AHF-PEF represent a major health problem. However, despite of the lack of effective treatments, there are also opportunities for improvement both in terms of morbidity and mortality that should be evaluated. Rather than looking for therapies or new specific drugs, these opportunities may be in the use of management strategies among which the use of biomarkers and their monitoring could be key. In this regard, NT-proBNP has been shown to correlate with severity and prognosis, including the risk of decompensation. Nevertheless, whilst the latest guidelines for heart failure management recommend its use in the diagnosis of HF, the use of biomarkers to monitor and guide treatment has not been included yet. The assumption of this study is that the use of NT-proBNP may serve as a therapeutic and management guideline for the in-patient with HF-PEF who is to be discharged, allowing a reduction of decompensations and hospitalizations as well as a better functional situation at 6 months. Several criteria have been proposed to define the syndrome of HFpEF according to the 2013 ACCF/AHA Heart Failure Guideline including (a) clinical signs or symptoms of HF; (b) evidence of preserved or normal LVEF; and (c) evidence of abnormal LV diastolic dysfunction that can be determined by Doppler echocardiography or cardiac catheterization The assay N-terminal proB-type natriuretic peptid is indicated as an aid in the diagnosis of individuals suspected of having congestive heart failure and detection of mild forms of cardiac dysfunction. The test also aids in the assessment of heart failure severity in patients diagnosed with congestive heart failure. This assay is further indicated for the risk stratification of patients with acute coronary syndrome and congestive heart failure, and it can also be used for monitoring the treatment in patients with left ventricular dysfunction.

The left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is growing rapidly among people dying from end-stage heart failure who are unable to get a heart transplant. These patients elect to live out the remainder of their lives dependent on a partial artificial heart-so-called destination therapy (DT). Although patients may live longer with a DT LVAD, it poses many risks, including stroke, serious infection, and bleeding. Most of these patients have other medical problems that are not fixed by the DT LVAD. Patients must be connected to electricity at all times. A caregiver is required, which often places stress on loved ones. Therefore, the decision whether or not to get a DT LVAD is often an extremely difficult one. Unfortunately, our research shows problems with the way this medical decision is currently being made in hospitals across the United States. Hospitals that offer DT LVAD treatment do not follow a standard process. The forms, pamphlets, websites, and videos used to help patients and families are biased and too difficult for most people to understand. Lastly, this is an emotional and even scary decision for most patients and their families, but the process does not help them deal with these feelings. Using feedback from patients, caregivers, clinicians, the study team made a paper and video decision aid to help people who are offered DT LVAD make this most difficult of decisions. Unlike the information that is now available, our decision aid focuses on options, fears, and the needs of caregivers, is balanced, and is paired with training for doctors and nurses on how to best talk about DT LVAD. The investigators now propose to test the effectiveness and implementation of this intervention. The investigators will apply the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM) evaluative framework to a stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized, controlled trial across 6 medical centers. Aim 1. Evaluate the Reach and Effectiveness of the DT LVAD shared decision support intervention to improve patient and caregiver experiences. Hypothesis 1a: The intervention will reach 90% of eligible patients. Hypothesis 1b: Post-implementation, patients and caregivers will have improved decision quality (greater knowledge and higher value-treatment concordance). Aim 2. Assess the Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance of the DT LVAD shared decision support intervention across multiple providers and settings. Hypothesis 2: The intervention will be: adopted by key personnel; implemented consistently; and maintained after trial completion.