Active clinical trials for "Heart Failure"

The primary objective of this study is to determine whether treatment with aliskiren (300 mg) compared to placebo will improve treadmill exercise time in older (age ≥ 55 years) patients with heart failure and normal ejection fraction (HFNEF).

Diastolic heart failure is now being recognized as a key form of heart failure in older people. The focus of this research is to study ways to improve and maintain physical activity and functioning. This knowledge may improve the health and well-being in people with diastolic heart failure.

An investigation where patients with chronic heart failure and cheyne stokes respiration, treated with adapitve servo ventilator, will improve their cardiac function and quality of life.

The purpose of this study is : To determine if aerobic exercise conditioning can improve symptoms, cardiovascular function and quality of life in elderly patients with congestive heart failure. To describe the baseline clinical characteristics, cardiovascular function and neurohumoral function in elderly patients with congestive heart failure. To determine the specific cardiovascular and noncardiovascular mechanisms by which symptoms and quality of life may improve following exercise conditioning in elderly patients with congestive heart failure.

The Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center is conducting a clinical research study that will assess the use of the medication metformin to improve quality of life, exercise capacity, and improved outcomes with patients that have both heart failure and diabetes. If you participate in this study, you will receive the drug metformin for approximately 3 months. During the study you will undergo comprehensive testing which includes blood draws, an echocardiogram, and an magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)(if you do not have a pacemaker or defibrillator). You will also fill out a questionnaire and keep a blood glucose log. You must be 18 years old to participate. The study drugs, study follow-up visits, and laboratory tests will be provided free of charge. Participants will be reimbursed up to $200 for their time and travel expenses.

Heart failure is a major clinical problem that is increasing in magnitude and the cost of management of heart failure is escalating. A significant part of this cost is related to unplanned acute presentation to emergency departments and hospitalisation with worsening shortness of breath due to increased fluid content in the lungs. Many heart failure patients are already fitted with defibrillators to protect them from the risk of fast heart rhythms and sudden death and are followed up in both the heart failure clinics and defibrillator clinics. Recently some of the defibrillators fitted have been equipped with an extra function that can detect and warn of changes in the fluid content of the lungs very early even before the patient starts to complain of any shortness of breath and before any signs of fluid overload are seen clinically. However, it is not known how to deal with these warnings if they occur very early and it is not known whether a medical intervention at his stage is beneficial to prevent progression and eventual hospital admission. In the majority of cases, early warnings of this kind are ignored or this function is disabled at implantation of the device. The current study will involve patients who have already been fitted with a device with the above capability. The investigators will use the new function to guide management of these patients and compare their outcome with similar patients who are fitted with devices without it. The investigators will attempt to manage early warnings by a predetermined increase in medications in a group of patients and compare their clinical course to a similar group in whom no action is taken.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether oxygen therapy during sleep improves quality of life, exercise capacity and heart function among patients with chronic heart failure and central sleep apnea.

This program is designed to improve medical care and education of hospitalized patients with heart failure and accelerate the initiation of evidence-based heart failure guideline recommended therapies by administering them before hospital discharge. A registry component focusing on admission to discharge and 60- to 90-day follow-up is designed to evaluate the demographic, pathophysiologic, clinical, treatment, and outcome characteristics of patients hospitalized with heart failure.

Heart failure is a condition that occurs when the heart muscle weakens and no longer contracts normally. Half of these patients have an irregularity of heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation (AF). Patients with both heart failure and AF spend more time in hospital, and die earlier than those with heart failure alone. AF is difficult to treat with conventional methods in patients with heart failure. Radiofrequency ablation is a new technique used to cure AF. The investigators aim to establish if radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation in patients with advanced heart failure can result in marked improvement in the function of the heart.

The purpose of our study was to determine if a strategy of starting a heart medication (Beta-blocker) before patients leave the hospital and then being seen by a nurse manager would reduce subsequent hospitalizations compared to usual care. Hypothesis: A nurse-directed heart failure management program with inpatient initiation of beta blockers will improve health outcomes in a vulnerable, predominantly Hispanic and African American population.