Active clinical trials for "Heart Failure"

As an extension of previous work, in this study, a breathing retraining component is added using breathing calisthenics and inspiratory muscle trainer for the classical cardiac rehabilitation (CR), as an appealing option, to implement a comprehensive rehabilitation protocol addressing the different patient-centered outcomes including different cardiovascular, and respiratory complaints; increasing the benefits of classical CR; detecting the impact of adding this on the cardiovascular (CV) outcomes, and discovering the correlation between the CV and respiratory data.

The advantages of laser acupuncture are a non-invasive, painless, low risk of infection and high safety. Laser acupuncture as a treatment tool has the following advantages1.Painless, 2. Non-invasive treatment, the subject is highly accepted, the risk of infection and needle stick is low, 3. Very few side effects such as fainting, bleeding, 4. The therapeutic dose is easy to operate, and the instrument output frequency, power and time can be controlled. Through the clinical physiological function test plus the verification and analysis of the quantitative test values, it will be more able to define the new role of laser acupuncture treatment in patients with heart failure from the perspective of Chinese medicine.

To provide proof-of-concept data on the efficacy/safety of transplanting HCV positive donor grafts in HCV negative heart recipients who are currently listed.

Ketones, 3-hydroxybutyrate (3-OHB), have shown to have beneficial hemodynamics effect in patients with hearth failure with reduced ejection fraction. The mechanisms behind these marked hemodynamic effects are currently unknown, but could involve prostaglandin-release. 3-OHB is the endogenous ligand for the G protein-coupled receptor hydroxy-carboxylic acid 2 (HCA2) receptor. This receptor has proven downstream effects on cAMP and systemic effects via release of prostaglandins. In this present study we will investigate the cardiovascular effects of HCA2-receptor stimulation in heart failure patients.

The present study will recruit 40 symptomatic heart failure patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) below 35% and complete left bundle branch block(QRSd≥130 ms). Each patient was randomized to either left bundle branch pacing(LBBP) or biventricular pacing(BivP) and was followed up for at least 6 months. The objective is to compare the effects of LBBP and BivP on cardiac resynchronization in the treatment of heart failure by measurable clinical parameters.

Previous studies have demonstrated a direct association between blood pressure level and cardiovascular risk. However in patients with heart failure this association is considered controversial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of the reduction of blood pressure in patients with heart failure. The investigators will examine the effects of this intervention over mortality, quality of life, and cardiac function.

The aim of this study is to serve as a pilot showing the feasibility of a "Hub and Satellite" Heart Failure (HF) Provider's Network which will aim to provide improved, evidence-based care to Veterans with HF. Primary Care Providers in the VA Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) will undergo a brief period of intensive training in HF management and then practice in a network of primary care providers supported by the Regional HF Center.

Impact of intraventricular electrical activation in resynchronization therapy. We seek to evaluate the impact of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) on electrical activation of the Left Ventricle (LV). The first goal of the study is to evaluate if CRT is able to decrease the heterogeneity of LV activation in heart failure patients. A second goal is to evaluate the electrical determinant of clinical response to CRT using invasive and non-invasive mapping technology.

Heart failure (HF) affects 5 million people in the US and is the most common cause of hospitalization in elderly adults. One-third of patients who are hospitalized with HF have major depression. Depressed HF patients have double the rates of morbidity and/or mortality and worse health-related quality of life than non-depressed HF patients. The investigators previous pilot research suggests that a brief Cognitive Therapy (CT) intervention may improve short-term cardiac survival among depressed hospitalized HF patients compared to non-depressed HF patients who received usual care. Therefore, the investigators will conduct a larger study to evaluate the effects of the intervention on longer cardiac event-free survival, symptoms of depression, health-related quality of life, and stress levels in patients with HF. The investigators hypothesize that patients in the intervention group will experience longer cardiac event-free survival, lower levels of depressive symptom, better health-related quality of life, and lower salivary cortisol levels at follow-up than patients who receive usual care.

Atrial fibrillation and heart failure are two common heart conditions that are associated with an increase in death and suffering. When both of these two conditions occur in a patient the patient's prognosis is poor. These patients have poor life quality and are frequently admitted to the hospital. The treatment of atrial fibrillation in heart failure patients is extremely challenging. Two options for managing the atrial fibrillation are permitting the atrial fibrillation to continue but controlling the heart rate, or to convert the atrial fibrillation rhythm back to normal and try to maintain the heart in sinus rhythm. Until now, the method to keep the patient in normal sinus rhythm is with antiarrhythmic drugs. Studies using antiarrhythmic drugs to control the rhythm failed to show any survival benefit when compared with permitting the patient to be in atrial fibrillation. In the last few years, new development in techniques and technologies now enable catheter ablation (cauterization of tissue in the heart with a catheter) to be a successful treatment in abolishing atrial fibrillation and that this approach is better than antiarrhythmic drug to control the rhythm. However, there has not been any long-term study to determine whether catheter ablation to abolish atrial fibrillation in heart failure patients would reduce mortality or admissions for heart failure. This study is to compare the effect of catheter ablation-based atrial fibrillation rhythm control to rate control in patients with heart failure and high burden atrial fibrillation on the composite endpoint of all-cause mortality and heart failure events defined as an admission to a healthcare facility for > 24 hours or clinically significant worsening heart failure leading to an intervention (defined as treatment in an emergency department, a same-day access clinic, or an infusion centre) or unscheduled visits to a healthcare provider for administration of an intravenous diuretic and an increase in chronic heart failure therapy. This study may have a dramatic impact on the way the investigators manage these patients with atrial fibrillation and heart failure and may improve the outlook and well being of these patients.