Active clinical trials for "Heart Failure"

Working Hypothesis: a treatment with thiamine improves functional status and heart function of patients with congestive heart failure when on a diuretic treatment.

Heart failure affects approximately 5-6 million North Americans and is increasing in prevalence. Sleep-related disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) often coexist (11-37% incidence) with heart failure. OSA is the repeated temporary interruption of breathing during sleep and occurs when the air passages in the upper respiratory tract become blocked during sleep. OSA adversely affects the cardiovascular system resulting in hypoxia (decrease in oxygen supply), which decreases the oxygen supply to the heart. Patients with OSA are treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). It has also been shown that CPAP reduces angina during sleep, minimizes sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation and improves left ventricular (LV) function, although the mechanism of action is not clear. Carbon-11 acetate PET imaging allows for the assessment of how the heart works and how efficiently the heart uses oxygen in certain circumstances. Carbon-11 hydroxyephedrine (HED) measures cardiac nervous system activity, which may have an effect on heart rate. The study will evaluate the term effects of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a common treatment for patients with OSA, on the heart's efficiency or ability to work and its effect on the nervous system activity of the heart. Two patient groups will be evaluated 1.) patients with congestive heart failure and obstructive sleep apnea will be randomized to early or late CPAP to address the primary hypothesis of the study and 2.) patients with congestive heart failure only (matched control group). Both the primary randomized study group and secondary study group will be evaluated using [11C]acetate PET, [11C]HED PET and echocardiography. Measurements will be obtained at baseline, 1 week (where possible) and 6-8 weeks.

PP1- The purpose of this study is to determine whether giving more of the hormone produced by everyone called growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) can improve heart function in individuals with congestive heart failure. You must be 50 years old or older, have a diagnosis of congestive heart failure, and have a high likelihood of having lower than normal growth hormone effect. GHRH is approved by the US FDA for treatment in children with growth hormone deficiency because GHRH stimulates Growth Hormone (GH). Its use for treatment of congestive heart failure in adults is investigational. Growth hormone releasing hormone is a hormone produced in the brain. We will be using synthetic hormone made in the laboratory. It is identical to the hormone in the brain. Many older people, due to aging have low levels of growth hormone. The aim of this study is to find out whether restoring growth hormone levels to the levels found in younger individuals and then maintaining those levels for 12 weeks will help strengthen heard muscles in older persons with congestive heart failure.

It is still uncertain what the best treatment is for patients who have both atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure. The aim of the study is to help identify the optimal treatment for patients with these two significant medical conditions. This will be performed by comparing two alternative strategies for AF management: catheter ablation (to restore normal rhythm) and medical therapy (to control heart rate, but not aiming ro restore normal rhythm). After random assignment, the effect of each strategy will be assessed by looking for changes in exercise capacity, symptoms, heart pump function, and quality of life during 12 months of follow-up.

Heart failure with preserved systolic function (HF-PSF, or 'diastolic heart failure') accounts for half of hospitalizations for heart failure in patients over the age of 65. Most HF-PSF patients have systemic hypertension (HTN), and characteristic HTN-induced cardiovascular changes contribute to HF-PSF. However, it is unclear why most patients with HTN never develop HF-PSF or which specific aspects of HTN predispose to HF-PSF. In the Dahl S rat, the primary animal model of HF-PSF, high dietary sodium intake suppresses the systemic renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, but upregulates renal and cardiac renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system by inducing oxidative stress. In humans, the magnitude of blood pressure response to sodium ingestion and depletion can categorize subjects as "salt-resistant" and "salt-sensitive." Human salt sensitivity is associated with structural and loading conditions that increase the risk for HF-PSF, including HTN, ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction, arterial stiffening, and increased plasma volume. High dietary sodium intake induces oxidative stress in salt-sensitive humans. In humans with HTN and normal ventricular systolic function that do not have heart failure, increased oxidative stress predicts impaired exercise capacity, ventricular hypertrophy, diastolic dysfunction, arterial stiffening, and vascular endothelial dysfunction. The investigators have proposed that "salt sensitivity" and the accompanying oxidative stress on the typical high-sodium Western diet may contribute to the initiation and progression of HF-PSF. In patients with HF-PSF, the investigators will relate dietary changes to biochemical and cardiovascular functional measures. The investigators will study subjects on ad-lib diet and and following three weeks of rigorous dietary modification with the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)/sodium-restricted diet (SRD). This diet is richer in natural antioxidants and lower in sodium than the usual American diet. The DASH/SRD is recommended to lower blood pressure in patients with HTN, and is particularly effective in elderly, obese, and salt-sensitive hypertensives. Dietary sodium restriction is recommended for all HF patients including those with HF-PSF. The investigators hypothesize that the DASH/SRD will have favorable effects on oxidative stress, ventricular and vascular function, and blood pressure control in patients with hypertensive HF-PSF.

Exposure of healthy subjects to high altitude hypoxia elicits changes in cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic features as weel as in exercise performance similar, for some aspects, to those observed in chronic heart failure. Exposure to high altitude hypoxia represents a suitable model to assess different treatments proposed for this pathological condition. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of two different third-generation beta-blockers used in heart failure (carvedilol and nebivolol) on cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic profile and on exercise performance at high altitude.

This protocol describes a randomized multicenter clinical trial designed to test the hypothesis that a 12-week program of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) yields larger beneficial effects in stable heart failure patients than current practice, defined as either a similar training program with the same volume of moderate continuous training (MCT) or a recommendation of regular exercise at moderate intensity at individual choice (RRE).

To test the hypothesis that long-term PDE5-inhibition by overexpressing the nitric oxide pathway is beneficial in chronic heart failure patients. Double-blind and placebo-controlled trial. Primary end-points: quality of life and exercise performance

The purpose of this study is to investigate the safety of intracoronary cardiac stem cells (CSCs) therapy in humans. Currently, there is no effective intervention to regenerate (regrow) dead heart muscle after a heart attack. The central hypothesis is that CSCs infused into nonviable myocardial segments will regenerate infarcted myocardium by differentiating into cardiomyocytes and other cell types. According to our hypothesis, CSC infusion regenerates myocardium with consequent improvement in contractile function of the heart and general clinical status.

Reduction in mitral regurgitation due to safe placement of a PTMA device in the coronary sinus.