Active clinical trials for "Heart Failure"

Assessment of the jugular venous pressure (JVP) is an important clinical sign and correlates with right atrial (RA) pressure. A patient with heart failure (HF) typically has an elevated JVP, but in cases of dehydration JVP may be low. Assessment of the JVP is key to the management of patients with fluid overload or needing diuretics. Currently the assessment of JVP is made by the physician by direct visualization of the neck veins. However this is inaccurate, may vary between investigators and depends largely on the patient's habitus. The JVP and RA pressures may also be directly measured by catheterization (a routine during right heart catheterization), but this is an invasive procedure that is seldom performed. A thermal movie of the external jugular vein at a specific neck position may help to measure the JVP. In this study different modalities of JVP assessment (clinical assessment, thermal image and invasive measurement) are to be compared Patients scheduled for right heart catheterization at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center for non-study related medical indications will be approached. Non-invasive estimates of JVP will be performed independently prior to the right heart catheterization, during the waiting period (within 2 hours) prior to catheterization. These will include up to 2min of thermal camera recording (to be analysed offline) and a physician's JVP evaluation. The angle of the patient's upper body will be 30-60°, the rotation of the neck will be optimal for filming, and the neck area may be cooled to enhance the images. Blinding to the results will be confirmed by performance with separate investigators and separate data registration. Right heart catheterization will then be performed and RA pressure will be recorded, as well as pulmonary and wedge pressures. JVP measured by physician and thermal image will be matched with invasive catheterization (the gold standard) using Bland Altman plots and Spearmann correlation and comparison between methods will be performed.

The current study aims to investigate whether telemedical monitoring in patients with terminal heart failure and an implanted left ventricular assist device (LVAD) has an influence on LVAD-associated complications, hospitalization rates and quality of life. This is a prospective observational study. Patients with terminal heart failure and an implanted LVAD, where the indication for telemonitoring has already been stated by the attending physician are included in the study. Written informed consent is obtained from all patients. The telemedical monitoring is carried out by the West German Center for Applied Telemedicine (WZAT) and includes a standardized telephone interview every 3 days. In addition, all patients are equipped with an INR measuring device, a body scale and a clinical thermometer by WZAT. The data is documented in an electronic case file (medPower®). In the event of abnormalities, the West German Heart and Vascular Center (WHGZ) is contacted, and all necessary measures are initiated.

The induction of anesthesia is one of the most critical situations for high-risk-patients undergoing major surgery. For several reasons, it is crucial to maintain adequate blood pressure and cardiac output during this phase. This observational study aims to find out if the choice of the induction agent has a major impact on blood pressure and the use of antihypotensive drugs during the induction and the surgical procedure in heart-failure patients undergoing the implantation of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD).

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) was considered as a heterogeneous disease with multi-organ and multi-system design, which is related to various complications, such as hypertension, obesity and arteriosclerosis. Ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI) is associated with arteriosclerosis and hypertension. There is no report on whether AASI is associated with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in patients with HFpEF.

This study assesses the impact of diastolic heart failure on exercise capacity in women who have a previous coronary condition. All the participants will go through the same evaluation.

The aim of the study is to develop and assess a prognostic model for patient's survival up to 1 year after unscheduled acute heart failure hospital admission in England and Wales.

No clinical trial that has examined the role of implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) therapy in the prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) has provided outcome data for longer than a few years. The NHLBI sponsored and placebo-controlled Sudden Cardiac Death in heart Failure Trial (SCD-HeFT) conducted from 1997 to 2003 had the largest number of patients and the longest average follow-up at 45.5 months. This study changed the national reimbursement policy for ICD therapy and remains the reference point for all other ICD evaluations in patients with congestive heart failure from ischemic or non-ischemic systolic dysfunction. Despite the outcome, the role of ICD therapy in the management of patients with heart failure has been questioned because of four principal concerns: numbers needed to treat to save a life, lead integrity over time, the negative consequences of shock therapy, and the cost of therapy. The purpose of this trial is to track down the remaining patients for a one-time follow-up regarding key outcome data.

The purpose of this study is to determine how electrical impedance is modified in relation to extracellular space body fluid retention detected by an electrical bioimpedance method in patients with heart failure.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the functional outcomes of resynchronization management and to describe the patient psychosocial characteristics (depression ad anxiety) and associated outcomes with electrophysiologic device therapy for chronic congestive heart failure.

Up to half of all patients with heart failure are found to have normal pumping function of the heart muscle, but show abnormalities in the way the heart muscle relaxes and fills with blood. These patients often have high blood pressure, and tend to have stiff arteries and stiff heart muscle. We wish to test the hypothesis that these patients have abnormal energy stores in their heart muscle.