Active clinical trials for "Heart Defects, Congenital"

Statins have been used to low cholesterol to prevent and treat coronary artery diseases. It was also reported that statins could protect endothelial function and cardiac function during coronary artery bypass graft. The investigators recent found simvastatin reduced myocardial injury during noncoronary artery cardiac surgery in single medical center. The investigators further investigate that whether simvastatin can protect myocardium during noncoronary artery cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass and improve cardiac function with long term use postoperatively in two medical centers.

Congenital heart defects are seen in 0,8% of life births. In France this means more than 5000 newborns per year. The south-east region of France is particularly affected as a result of a higher birth rate and consanguinity, when compared to other regions. The majority of congenital heart diseases remain unexplained. Genetic causes are indisputable but remain poorly understood. Genetic research needs the availability of a large-scale DNA collection, guided by a robust phenotypic classification. Such a DNA-bank has been created in Paris (CARREG DNA bank, created by the M3C reference centre for congenital heart diseases). Such a bank is currently unavailable in south-east France. To transport biological specimens from Marseille to Paris would be very expensive. In addition, the whole infrastructure required for correct diagnosis and classification of the congenital heart diseases, for sampling, for storage of the samples and genetic analysis, does exist in our AP-HM hospital and in our AMU research unit. For those reasons it is highly preferable to elaborate such a database and DNA-bank locally. The acronym SEA-HD (South-EAst-Heart-Diseases) would be used to name this DNA-bank

Neurodevelopmental disability is the most significant complication for survivors of infant surgery for congenital heart disease. In this study we sought to determine if intraoperative continuous infusion of dexmedetomidine are associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes at 12 months.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) is associated with considerable morbidity and even mortality. Next to environmental risk factors, the investigators believe that there is an important role of genetic predisposition to develop PAH in CHD. There often is a discrepancy between the severity of PAH and the CHD, where it is useful to screen for PAH gene mutations. The investigators hypothesize that the genotype is partly responsible for the phenotypic variability in patients with congenital shunt lesions, where some develop PAH and others do not. If a genetic predisposition for PAH in CHD could be identified, then genetic screening could be a useful additional tool for early detection of patients at risk of pulmonary vascular disease and PAH development, with new opportunities for prevention or early treatment.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) following cardiac surgery for congenital heart defects (CHD) in children affects up to 60% of high risk-patients and is a major cause of both short- and long-term morbidity and mortality. Despite effort, to date, no successful therapeutic agent has gained widespread success in preventing this postoperative decline in renal function. Nitric oxide is an intricate regulator of acute inflammation and coagulation and is a potent vasodilator. The investigators hypothesize that nitric oxide, administered during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), may reduce the incidence of AKI.

We propose a prospective observational study whose main objective will be to determine whether there is an association between age at surgery (days of life) and neurodevelopmental outcome in patients with CCHD. Secondly, we will study the relationship between age at surgery and (i) the incidence of WMI observed on pre- and post-operative cerebral MRI (ii) post-operative morbidity as defined by the occurrence of post-operative complications (haemodynamic, infectious, neurological, surgical) and (iii) the length of hospital stay.

This study will validate a coordinate-based 3-dimensional echocardiographic technique for the assessment of cardiac size and function in children and young adults with functional single ventricles.

We propose the novel integration of two echocardiographic technologies - three-dimensional echocardiography using semi-automated right ventricular analysis coupled with the administration of ultrasound enhancing agents - to improve the inter-rater reliability and accuracy of various measures of right ventricular size and function, compared with cardiac MRI.

The increase in internal diameter (ID) and cross-sectional area (CSA) may facilitate better arterial catheterization. Since an increase in body temperature can cause peripheral vasodilation, we aimed to determine if local warming of the radial artery (RA) catheterization site could improve the success rate of catheterization in pediatric patients.

The overall aim is twofold: 1) to stretch the borderline regarding the present knowledge of clinical and economic cost-effectiveness of eHealth as an aid for facilitating and supporting self-management in families with long-term childhood illness, and 2) to develop a sustainable multidisciplinary research environment for advancing, evaluating, and implementing models of eHealth to promote self-management for children and their families. A number of clinical studies are planned for, covering different parts of paediatric healthcare. The concept of child-centred care is essential. Experienced researchers from care science, medicine, economics, technology, and social science will collaborate around common issues. Expertise on IT technology will analyse the preconditions for using IT; economic evaluations will be performed alongside clinical studies; and cultural and implementation perspectives will be used to analyse the challenges that arise from the changes in relations among children, family and professionals, which may occur as a result of the introduction of eHealth. Child health is not only important in itself. Investments in child health may also generate significant future gains, such as improved educational and labour market performance. Six complex, long-term and costly challenges in paediatric healthcare are planned for, involving eHealth technology such as interactive video consultation, pictures, on-line monitoring, and textual communication. The research follows an international framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions in healthcare. End-users (families) and relevant care providers (professionals in health and social care) will participate throughout the research process. The overall aim is certainly to analyse eHealth as an aid for facilitating and supporting self-management. However, the plan also includes the research issue whether eHealth at the same time improves the allocation of scarce health care- and societal resources.