Active clinical trials for "Heart Diseases"

The aim of this study is to determine if stress first pass imaging in conjunction with a nuclear scan will improve the sensitivity for detecting heart disease. This study will also test the usefulness of a nuclear medicine camera, CDLCAM One Pass Angiography system.

The cardiac output (CO) is an important parameter in the diagnosis and therapy of cardiac diseases. The current standard methods for the determination of the CO, however, are either invasive (e.g. right heart catheterization) or technically expendable and expensive (magnetic resonance tomography, MRT). Therefore the aim of the study at hand was to evaluate the electrical velocimetry technique as a new method for determining the CO and to compare this new technique with the Inert Gas Rebreathing Method and with the Magnetic Resonance Tomography

Infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) requiring surgery frequently have brain injury seen on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This occurs in approximately 40% of these newborns, and even though these are full-term infants, the injury seen closely resembles the same form of brain injury that can be seen in premature babies. Much like premature newborns, infants with CHD also have long-term neurodevelopmental problems (in over 50%). The investigators do not know why infants with CHD get this specific form of brain injury. One risk factor is felt to be the inflammation that occurs in response to heart-lung bypass (cardiopulmonary bypass, or CPB), a necessary feature of open-heart surgery. Newborns have a stronger inflammatory reaction to CPB than older children or adults. The investigators do know from animal experiments and other human data that inflammation can be harmful to the developing brain. The investigators hypothesize that children with CHD requiring surgery as a newborn have brain injury due to toxicity from the inflammatory response. The investigators will test this by enrolling newborns undergoing heart surgery to measure markers of inflammation, measure brain injury by MRI, and then test their developmental outcome at 1 and 2 years of age. An association between inflammation and injury might impact what medicines are chosen to protect the brain in future studies, even in other populations such as preterm infants.

The overall aim of the project is to evaluate diagnosis and treatment of chest pain originating from the musculoskeletal system. Specifically, we wish to investigate prevalence and character of such chest pain in a population of patients with acute chest pain, admitted to a university hospital based acute chest pain clinic, and undergoing evaluation of acute coronary syndrome (Part 1). Then, to test a manually-based treatment protocol to patients with diagnosed musculoskeletal chest pain in a randomized clinical trial (Part 2). The specific purpose of this study (Part 1) is to determine the exact number of patients with acute chest pain origination from the musculoskeletal system, and to describe their cardiac status with respect to ischemic heart disease. Further, we wish to evaluate the decision making process of the chiropractor.

To relate cardiac structure and blood pressure (BP) elevation in adults to childhood BP and body size and composition.

To evaluate Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in American Indians.

The purpose of this study is to improve cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes in racial and ethnic minorities in Hawaii.

To identify new cellular, metabolic, and genomic correlates of atherosclerotic plaque and early pathologic changes in the vascular wall and determine their consequences for coronary heart disease and stroke.

To assess interactions between selected cardiovascular medications and genes in the incidence of heart attack, stroke, and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat.

Left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction is a common manifestation of heart disease that is responsible for significant morbidity and mortality.It is present when the ventricular filling is impaired as a result of delayed relaxation or decreased compliance. During Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery, LV diastolic dysfunction is a frequent occurrence. Failure of the left ventricle to dilate normally causes an increase in LV filling pressure. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common complication after cardiac surgery affecting 20-30% of patients undergoing coronary revascularization procedures. AF is associated with significant morbidity and mortality and has been identified as a causative factor of increased length of both hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) stay after CABG surgery, resulting in increased resource utilization and medical care costs.The primary aim of this study is to determine if patients with preoperative diastolic dysfunction are exposed to higher risk of AF after coronary revascularization surgery.