Active clinical trials for "Heart Failure"

Prospective validation of the ultrasound-assessed internal jugular vein distensibility (JVD) ratio to identify patients with systolic chronic heart failure and right atrial pressure (RAP) of 7 or less mmHg measured by the right heart catheterization. In a calibration cohort, a threshold ratio will be identified, above which the RAP is normal with the highest accuracy. This diagnostic tool with a defined threshold of the JVD ratio will be assessed in a second prospective validation cohort.

Randomized clinical trial in which patients with a recent admission for heart failure in the cardiology department of the Hospital de Mar will be randomized to usual follow-up (cardiologist of the Heart Failure Unit) or follow-up by cardiologist and intervention by the geriatrician. This visit will be done at the same time. The main gial of this study is to evaluate whether the combined intervention of a cardiologist and a geriatrician reduces hospital all-cause rehospitalizations at 1 year.

This study evaluates stepped care for depression in patients with heart failure (HF). The stepped care intervention consists of individualized cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Half of the participants will receive stepped care and half will receive usual care for depression; all participants will receive heart failure self-care education and support. The primary aims are to determine whether stepped care is superior to usual care for depression, and whether treating depression improves heart failure self-care outcomes.

This study is designed to assess the clinical outcomes of Left-Ventricular (LV) fusion pacing compared to Bi-Ventricular (BV) pacing, also known as Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT), in Chinese Heart Failure (HF) population. Specifically, the study will assess the changes of cardiac function of each group through 3-month follow up/ 6-month follow up compared with original outcomes before aCRT (adaptive Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy) implantation. Secondly, the study will assess whether parameters of aCRT that were tested in Western population are relevant to parameters of Chinese HF patients.

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is a well established clinical therapy for patients with symptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction and electrocardiographic QRS duration of 120 ms or greater. Multicenter trials have consistently demonstrated CRT "non responder" rates of 32-43% at 6 months. Subsequent studies have shown that utilizing echocardiographic-guided device reprogramming for optimal atrio-ventricular (A-V) and interventricular (VV) delays at rest have improved clinical response. Recently, an echocardiographically validated automated pacemaker programmer-based intra-cardiac electrogram (IEGM) algorithm has been developed for rapid optimization of sino-ventricular (P-V), A-V and V-V delays at resting heart rates that is partially based on the interventricular conduction time delays. Nevertheless, controversy still persists as to the applicability of both echocardiographic and IEGM derived algorithms at elevated heart rates, as with physical activity, when patients are more likely to experience symptoms related to poor cardiac output. Recent studies have shown clinical benefits of pacing from sites of late intrinsic activation or intra-ventricular conduction delays (IVCD). Some studies have utilized the intrinsic SENSED IVCD method while others used the right ventricle (RV)-PACED IVCD. There have not been any studies to date that compare both methods to determine if one may yield a better clinical outcome with lower non-responder rates. This study predicts that the RV paced IVCD method will provide better clinical outcomes than the longest RV sensed IVCD as determined by the clinical composite score. The study is a prospective double blind study with an additional cross-over group consisting only of non-responders to compare the clinical response in 72 patients receiving CRT therapy. After successful CRT-D implantation and before hospital discharge patients will be randomly assigned in a 1:1 fashion to Group 1 (SENSED) or Group 2 (PACED). The patient will complete a Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire, compare echocardiographic data and be assessed by a blinded nurse and physician prior to discharge and at each follow up visit to maintain the double blind design. After 3 months of follow-up, non-responders from each group will be crossed-over to the other group and followed for an additional 3 months. Clinical data will be collected at the end of that 3 months and compared looking at changes in symptoms, ejection fraction (EF) and other echocardiographic measurements, New York Heart Assocation Function Class ( NYHA) class, clinical composite scores (CCC), device interrogation data and hospital admissions between the two groups to see if there is a statistical difference.

We believe that blocking of the Greater Splanchnic Nerve (GSN) will stop Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) activity from reaching the splanchnic vessels and result in a redistribution of blood volume back into the splanchnic reservoir, which will result in reduction of central venous, pulmonary and right and left heart pressures. For patients having Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) we expect these changes to improve dyspnea and capacity to exercise, improve quality of life, increased diuretic responsiveness, Furthermore, the expected benefits of unloading the central venous and arterial system through GSN ablation should improve hemodynamic control and lessen the incidence and severity of acute decompensations leading to reduced re-hospitalizations and associated healthcare costs. This has the potential for significant social and healthcare impact.

This clinical study is designed to show that a multidisciplinary team following a pre-specified standard of care medication decision model based on data from an implanted cardioverter device will increase the rate of change in Guideline Directed Medical Therapy (GDMT) in the intervention group compared to the conventional group in patients with ischemic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathies.

In this study the ability of smartphone sensors (accelerometer and gyroscope) to identify patients with heart failure will be studied.

To investigate how measures of frailty, assessed during occupational therapy (OT) evaluation and intervention impact decision for advanced heart failure (HF) therapies and postoperative outcomes.

Heart failure is common in adults and is the most common hospital diagnosis in older adults. Patients with heart failure suffer numerous distressing symptoms daily. Although palliative care can improve suffering, rural-dwelling heart failure patients have poor access to specialized palliative care. The investigators propose to pilot test a tele-health palliative care intervention, PALL-HEART, in rural dwelling heart failure patients who live in Virginia and Kentucky. Study specific objectives are: Primary Aims: AIM 1: Compare HF patients who participate in a home-delivered tablet-based HF health education and gentle stretching intervention, to a health education (HE) group on: a) HF symptoms (weight gain, breathlessness, fatigue), b) psychological symptoms (depression, diminished QOL, resilience, self-care, and heart rate variability), c) physical function (endurance, strength, balance), and d) health care utilization rates (ED visits, office visits, hospitalizations). Hypothesis 1: HF symptoms (weight gain, breathlessness, fatigue), psychological symptoms (depression, diminished QOL, resilience, self-care), physical function (endurance, strength, balance) will improve in the intervention group. Hypothesis 2: Health care utilization rates (ED visits, office visits, hospitalizations) will decrease in the intervention group. Secondary: AIM 2: Acceptability - Acceptability of the intervention will be determined using: a) participation and satisfaction rates (participant logs), b) intervention retention rates, and c) barriers to participation (technology and participant motivation issues). Hypothesis: Subjects in the intervention group will have >80% participation and satisfaction rates and be willing to identify barriers to participation. acceptability of the intervention for future refinement and large scale testing.