Active clinical trials for "Hypertension, Pulmonary"

The goal of the study is to prospectively evaluate Impedance Cardiography as a tool to detect pulmonary hypertension. According to our hypothesis Impedance Cardiography is a valuable method to differentiate patients without pulmonary hypertension from patients with pulmonary hypertension. The main objective is to determine the sensitivity and specificity in comparison to the gold standard right heart catheterization.

Frailty is a complex biologic syndrome of diminished physiologic reserve that leads to decreased resistance to stressors and is associated with adverse health outcomes. The syndrome has been well studied in adults and is quantified by the Fried criteria, which are comprised of five components- slowness, weakness, self-reported exhaustion, shrinkage and diminished physical activity. The concept of frailty is novel in children. A study in young adult childhood cancer survivors demonstrated increased incidence of frailty in this population along with increased risk of morbidity and mortality. This suggests that frailty as a phenotype has relevance outside of the geriatric age group. Pediatric patients with single ventricle physiology, heart failure and pulmonary artery hypertension- all represent populations with significantly increased risk of mortality, morbidity and decreased quality of life. Currently, such patients are monitored outpatient by serial echocardiograms and blood work that only gives information about end organ damage. But there is no validated tool available to measure global infirmity in such children. Better understanding of the relevance and applicability of frailty in pediatrics may allow for identification of the most vulnerable pediatric cardiac patients and be of value in optimizing their clinical management and improving health outcomes.

The investigation serves the identification of pulmonary hypertension (PH) among patients with hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP). The exact prevalence of PH in HP is unknown. Data from South America indicate that the prevalence of pre-capillary PH amongst patients with HP is higher than 20%. There are no reliable data from Europe so far. According to the investigators previous analysis, more than 400 HP patients have participated in pulmonary rehabilitation at least once in the past 10 years at Klinikum Bad Gleichenberg (Rehabilitation Center for Agricultural Workers in Austria). This collective of patients is to be invited to participate in the study. A diagnostic algorithm will be applied in the clinical trial, in the case of clinical suspicion the diagnosis of PH will be confirmed by right heart catheterization. Besides the determination of the prevalence of PH in patients with HP the investigators aim to assess the reliability of non-invasive methods (e.g. Echocardiography, ECG...) to predict PH.

The study will investigate the relation between erythrocyte glutamine/glutamate ratio and pulmonary hypertension risk in Egyptian thalassemic children in Assiut University Children Hospital

The purpose of this study is the evaluation of cardiac and pulmonary response to cardiopulmonary exercise in severe mitral regurgitation and its variation under treatment (surgical mitral valve repair, percutaneous mitral valve repair, optimal medical treatment). The study is conducted as a prospective, observational, single-center study. Patients suffering from symptomatic severe mitral regurgitation will be eligible, if they are referred to the University Hospital of Regensburg, Germany, for further diagnostic procedures and heart team discussion. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing is performed comprising standardized stress echocardiography as well as ergospirometry. Additional detailed assessment will be conducted including standardized questionary, clinical examination, transesophageal echocardiography and measurement of biomarkers.

The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the progression of right ventricular function and dimension in Kyrgyz highlanders with high altitude pulmonary hypertension (HAPH) by performing a cross sectional case-control study.

Mitral regurgitation (MR) is a prevalent valvular heart pathology. Indications for surgery include symptoms, impaired left ventricular function or enlarging dimensions, new onset atrial fibrillation, pulmonary hypertension, asymptomatic status with a high likelihood of success. Asymptomatic severe primary MR can be initially monitored without impairing long term survival. However, significant symptoms or impairment of left ventricular function is associated with worse prognosis due to long term heart failure. Some physicians wait for early symptoms before referring for surgery and this is reflected by a great variation in referral patterns, but symptomatic status is subjective and difficult to assess. Nearly all of the surgical indications are based on expert opinion rather than significant evidence base. The primary aim of this project is to improve the current guidelines for surgery for primary MR by finding an objective marker of functional capacity which correlates with surrogates of prognosis and detects early decline, but returns to normal after surgery.

Congenital heart disease is the most common congenital anomaly. The life expectancy of children with congenital heart disease has increased considerably in recent years. Nevertheless, the evolution of these patients is marked by an increased risk of complications. Arrhythmias, heart failure, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and endocarditis may be promoted by the absence or delay of management in childhood, by residual lesions or post-operative cardiac scars and by the presence of prosthetic materials. PAH is a common complication of congenital heart disease, especially in non-operated shunts. PAH corresponds to an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance and mean pulmonary arterial pressure that becomes greater than 25mmHg at rest, leading to right ventricular failure and ultimately to the patient's death. Eisenmenger's syndrome corresponds to a non-reversible pulmonary arterial hypertension with a left-right shunt initially left open, then right-left secondary to the increase in pulmonary vascular resistance, leading to cyanosis, polycythemia and multivisceral involvement. It is the most advanced form of PAH with congenital heart disease. PAH will be suspected during echocardiographic follow-up of any patient with congenital heart disease, on the analysis of the velocity of tricuspid and/or pulmonary regurgitation flow. Echocardiography allows the monitoring of the VD (right ventricle) function, which is the major prognostic element in PAH. Cardiac catheterization is systematically recommended and remains the gold standard to confirm the diagnosis of PAH, establish its pathophysiology and prognosis but also for the follow-up under medical treatment of these patients in tertiary centres every 6 months. Although this tool is the gold standard, rigorously performed, it remains an invasive examination often poorly experienced by patients. 4D Flow MRI is a promising imaging that allows the acquisition of anatomical, volume, right ventricular remodeling and intracardiac flow information in a single step with 2D (only 8 minutes extra), in free breathing and totally autonomous mode. Thus, at the same time as the realization of a 2D MRI, essential for the diagnosis and follow-up of PAH, with an additional 8 minutes for 4D flow, the investigators could have additional fundamental information on pulmonary cardiac output but also prognostic markers of right ventricular dysfunction turning dramatic in pulmonary vascular disease.

Cardiac dysfunction has been reported to be common in patients infected with COVID-19. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical importance of cardiac dysfunction in critically ill patients infected with COVID-19.

The virus infection Covid-19 fills our hospitals and intensive care departments in a very unique way and there is a lack of essential insight into the pathophysiology of the disease. As a result, very specific treatment options are missing. The US Medicines Agency (FDA) has in the last days given a general license for treatment with inhaled nitric oxide (iNO). Inhaled NO in Sweden (and Europe) is approved for the indication of pulmonary hypertension in adults. However, no one has yet described the occurrence of pulmonary hypertension, with or without right ventricular loading, in the Covid-19 patients who become so seriously ill that they need to be treated at an IVA ward. Knowledge of this is, of course, a prerequisite for determining the need for pulmonary artery catheterization (PA catheter, Swan-Ganz catheter) and also to better understand whether iNO treatment or other forms of lung selective vasodilation therapy may be of benefit to this patient group.