Active clinical trials for "Heart Failure"

To determine if catheter-based atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation is superior to Amiodarone treatment for symptomatic persistent/permanent AF in ICD/CRTD patients with an impaired left ventricular function. Hypothesis: AF ablation is better than Amiodarone for subjects with symptomatic persistent or permanent AF and impaired LV function in terms of recurrence of AF, quality of life, 6-minute walk distance, EF and total number of hospitalizations.

It's the aim of this study to investigate the impact of Right Ventricular (RV) lead position (RV-apex, His bundle area, RV-apex+His bundle area) in combination with individually optimized Left Ventricular (LV) lead placement and CRT timing on the outcome of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).

Medtronic, Inc. is sponsoring the OptiVol® Care Pathway Study, a prospective, randomized, multi-center, post-market clinical trial in the United States. The purpose of this clinical trial is to compare monthly versus quarterly review of Cardiac Compass® Trends with OptiVol for initiation of clinical action. It is hypothesized that monthly review of Cardiac Compass Trends with OptiVol will shorten time to clinical action as compared to quarterly review.

Background: In haemodialysis patients, chronic heart failure (CHF) is responsible for a high mortality rate but, presently, very little data is available regarding this population. Aim of the study: Aim of this study was to determine whether telmisartan decreases all-cause and cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in haemodialysis patients with CHF and impaired left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) when added to standard therapies with ACE inhibitors. Methods: A 3-year randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial was performed involving 30 Italian clinics. Haemodialysis patients with CHF (NYHA class II and III; LVEF 40%) were randomized to telmisartan or placebo in addition to ACE inhibitor therapy. 332 patients were enrolled (165 telmisartan, 167 placebo), and drug dosage was titrated to a target dose of telmisartan of 80 mg or placebo. Mean follow-up period was 35±5 months. Primary outcomes were all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality and CHF hospitalization.

The investigators test the hypothesis that different beta-blockers had a different influence on chemoreceptor response and lung diffusion capacity. Both could influence exercise capacity in normoxic as well as hypoxic conditions.

Superiority of additional Remote Patient Monitoring in patients with CHF In comparison to usual care in terms of: reduction of mortality rate reduction of hospitalizations increasement of patients' quality of life

Identifying & optimizing strategies to reduce the burden of heart failure is vital. Despite advances in pharmacotherapy, patients with heart failure are at high risk for death & hospitalization. Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) synchronizes ventricular mechanical activity, improves cardiac output & reduces HF symptoms. However, ~50% of patients do not clearly respond to CRT. Sub-optimal placement of the LV pacing lead appears to be an important reason for non-response. This study will assess whether targeted LV lead placement will result in an increased probability of CRT response at 52 weeks vs. usual (lateral wall) lead placement.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether an angiotensin II receptor blocker (olmesartan), in addition to conventional treatment, will reduce the mortality and morbidity in hypertensive patients with stable chronic heart failure.

Patients who have heart failure and have electrical evidence of delay in the contraction of the left ventricle on an ECG tracing of the heart are eligible for biventricular pacing. Recent work has suggested that patients with heart failure who do not have electrical evidence of conduction delay (normal QRS) may benefit from biventricular pacing. The reliance on ECGs to determine the presence of dyssynchrony is widespread, although the ECG alone is not 100% sensitive and specific. ECG criteria for de-synchrony in heart failure patients are estimated to pick up only 30% of patients with dyssynchrony, and results in patients missing out on a potentially important treatment advance. We would like to study patients with heart failure who have normal ventricular activation on their ECGs to see whether we can predict those patients who will respond to biventricular pacing.

We thought to investigate the influence of DPP-4 inhibitor on the serum BNP level of diabetic patients with congestive heart failure. This study consists of two protocols. In the first protocol, diabetic patients with high level of serum BNP (100-2000 pg/ml) receiving outpatient treatment with any type of DPP-4 inhibitor at our institution will be enrolled. After baseline data collection, DPP-4 inhibitor will be suspended for one month and serum BNP will be measured. The DPP-4 inhibitor will be resumed and after another month, serum BNP will be measured again. In the other protocol, diabetic patients who were hospitalized due to heart failure were enrolled. DPP-4 inhibitor will be started (if the patient is not taking a DPP-4 inhibitor) or suspended (if the patient is taking a DPP-4 inhibitor) after stabilization of heart failure, and serum BNP will be measured before and after the drug administration or suspension.