Active clinical trials for "Heart Diseases"

This project will evaluate the effects of World Trade Center (WTC) exposure in WTC responders 10-13 years following the events of 9/11. Prior studies have described persistent pulmonary function abnormalities in a significant portion of responders. The investigators study seeks to examine the relationship between pulmonary function abnormalities and other markers of chronic cardiopulmonary disease and further elucidate the pathophysiologic effects of exposure to inhaled particulate matter (PM) on 9/11. This study will provide critical information regarding risk of exposure to PM, risk factors for disease and potential for improvements in diagnosis and treatment.

This observational study is being conducted in patients receiving statin treatment as secondary prevention of coronary heart disease under the current standard of care in compliance with European guidelines. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the percentage of these patients that reach target LDL levels. Additionally this study will measure the patient's compliance to treatment as assessed by counting the returned tablets. Both assessments will be made at visits conducted 6-8 weeks after the first visit and 28-32 weeks after the first visit.

The present study is designed to: investigate the safety and efficacy of Real time myocardial echocardiography (RT-MCE) in adolescents and adults ages 12-50 with congenital and acquired congenital heart disease compare RT-MCE with dobutamine stress perfusion MR for determination of coronary flow reserve and ventricular wall motion assess regional myocardial mechanics using myocardial speckle tracking and MR tagging. evaluate RV volume and function for a subset of subjects using novel reconstruction software

The aim of this prospective study is to investigate the prevalence of endothelial dysfunction in subjects with family history of premature coronary heart disease. At the same time, the effect of atorvastatin in treating subclinical endothelial dysfunction in those patients will be evaluated.

A cholesterol/lipid profile screening project of high risk patients with hyperlipidaemia (secondary prevention) who already receive cholesterol-lowering therapy. Lipid profile and rate of patients who are treated to target (which is <100mg/dl for patients with high risk and <70mg/dl for patients at very high risk) are screened (hospital-based specialists). The doctors therapy decisions after the screening and possible reasons for these decisions will be documented. Our aim is to evaluate dosing habits, to evaluate how many patients are treated to their LDL-C target and to underline the importance of treating patients to their cholesterol targets.

Heart disease is not just the number one killer of women, it is also a leading cause of disability. While it is generally believed that heart disease in women is a disease of old age, the stark reality is that heart disease is responsible for more deaths than breast cancer AT ALL AGES. Also, when young women develop heart disease, they are more likely to die or become disabled than their male peers. Identifying women at risk for heart disease is an important step toward reducing the impact of this disease. Although women can develop heart disease at any age, most women show signs and symptoms of disease about 10 years after men. For years, it has been thought that the reason for this lag is that women's hearts are protected by estrogen, and that when women go through menopause and lose their natural estrogen, they also lose their protection from heart disease. It has been assumed that if estrogen is replaced then protection will continue. These assumptions have not been proven. In fact, three large, randomized trials have shown no benefit from hormone replacement therapy in women known to have heart disease, and in fact have shown that hormone replacement may be harmful. To better understand the role of hormones and heart disease, the investigators propose to look at markers of heart disease in healthy women and compare this to their natural hormone levels. One of the markers known to be related to heart disease is carotid artery intima-medial thickness (c-IMT) which can be measured by creating an ultrasound picture of an artery in the neck. The investgators will use c-IMT scans and serum blood samples from women in the NIH-sponsored Los Angeles Atherosclerosis Study (LAAS), a large epidemiologic study that followed participants for 8 years. The proposed study will use risk factor information, serum samples and c-IMT scans collected from the female participants (about 269 women) over the 8 years of follow-up. The total sample size is 269 subjects, each of whom donated 3 blood specimens for the LAAS study. This research will examine those specimens (800 in total). It will also measure other markers of heart disease, including inflammation (hsCRP) and diabetes (insulin and glucose). All information has been obtained and there will be no need to collect additional information from participants nor additional blood specimens.

Study design: Single center, placebo-controlled, double blind, parallel groups. To evaluate the potential interaction between aspirin and ibuprofen or celecoxib in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and documented stable ischemic heart disease, a total of 24 patients chronically treated with aspirin will be randomly assigned to one of the 3 treatment groups: 1) celecoxib 200 mg bid; 2) ibuprofen 600 mg tid; 3) placebo.

This study tests the reliability of thermodilution cardiac output measurements with pulmonary artery catheters in immediate connection with heart surgery. In accordance with our clinical practice, thermal indicator injections are synchronized with respiration. The impact on measurement repeatability of spontaneous vs artificial ventilation and the effect of the injectate temperature is tested. The study hypothesis is that when injections are synchronized with the respiration, only three injections at room temperature are needed to be within 5 % of the "true" cardiac output in mechanically ventilated patients.

To investigate whether apelin can be used as an indicator to predict postoperative atrial fibrillation in patients with coronary atherosclerotic heart disease, and to provide an objective basis for the clinical selection of a preventive intervention program for atrial fibrillation.

The hypothesis of this study is a nutrition preoperatively in infants and children undergoing elective cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass leads to improvement in nutritional status, intervention, and that this results in good postoperative results.