Active clinical trials for "Myocardial Ischemia"

This is a prospective, randomized study conducted in patients undergoing coronary revascularization procedures (PCI) through angioplasty. All patients who meet the eligibility criteria will be randomized to receive, before the procedure, an oral aspirin reload (325 mg) and to be re-evaluated at 60 minutes, 120 minutes, 6 hours, 48 hours, 5 and 30 day, 3 and 6 months.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the additional effect of probucol or concomitant administration of cilostazol and probucol on mean carotid artery intima-media thickness (mean IMT) at year 1, 2, and 3.

The aim of the study is to assess the safety and efficacy of the Paclitaxel-eluting PTCA-balloon in the treatment of in-stent restenoses in native coronary arteries with reference diameters between 2.5 mm and 3.5 mm and ≤ 22 mm in length for procedural success and preservation of vessel patency in comparison to the Paclitaxel-eluting Taxus™ stent.

This 2 arm study will assess the long term safety and efficacy of RO4607381 in patients with coronary heart disease or a coronary heart disease (CHD) risk equivalent who have completed study NC19453. Patients eligible to participate in the extension study will continue on the treatment they were originally assigned to ie RO4607381 (900mg po) or placebo daily, with concomitant daily atorvastatin (10 to 80mg po). The anticipated time on study treatment is 6 months post study NC19453, and the target sample size is approximately 100 individuals.

Clopidogrel and statins are frequently coadministered in patients with ischemic heart diseases. Recent reports suggested that clopidogrel's effectiveness in inhibiting adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-induced platelets aggregation is attenuated by co-administration of certain statins. The objective of the present study is to define which kind of statins might interfere with the antiaggregation property of clopidogrel in patients with acute coronary Syndrome after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In this prospective randomized study, all patients in test group will receive clopidogrel plus atorvastatin, and all patients in control group will receive clopidogrel plus pravastatin. All patients will be followed up for one year. The primary endpoints include death, non fatal AMI, urgent revascularization. The secondary endpoints include hemorrhage events and subacute thrombosis events at 1 year.

The primary objective of the PRE-COMBAT trial is: To establish the safety and effectiveness of coronary stenting with the sirolimus-eluting balloon expandable stent (Cordis Johnson & Johnson, Warren, New Jersey) compared with bypass surgery for the treatment of an unprotected LMCA stenosis. The alternative hypothesis is that the experimental strategy (coronary stenting with the sirolimus-eluting stents) is not inferior to the standard strategy (bypass surgery).

A low level of plasma high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, "the good cholesterol", is the most common lipid abnormality observed in patients with a premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. HDL carry excess cholesterol from peripheral tissues to the liver to be metabolized or excreted, a process known as reverse cholesterol transport. Epidemiological studies have shown an inverse correlation between plasma levels of HDL cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular disease. An increase in plasma HDL cholesterol levels by 1 mg/dL may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 2 to 3%. The standard care of treatment for a low level of HDL cholesterol is: 1) lifestyle modifications including exercise, smoking cessation, weight control, moderate alcohol intake and decreased dietary fat intake - all patients are encouraged to follow these lifestyle modifications; 2) medications which can raise HDL cholesterol. Currently used medications to treat lipid disorders can increase, in some extent, HDL cholesterol. These include niacin (vitamin B3), fibric acid derivatives (fibrates) and statins. However there is no data on the effect of these medications on severe cases of HDL deficiency. This project aims to determine whether currently available medications, used in standard medical practice for the treatment of lipoprotein disorders, can substantially increase HDL cholesterol in severe cases of HDL deficiencies.

Cell transplantation for treatment of heart failure is a novel field of translational research that offers the perspective of developing curative approaches by regenerating or "rejuvenating" lost and/or diseased myocardium and inducing growth of new blood vessels. Based on the safety and preliminary efficacy testing in previous trials, a stringent efficacy testing will be performed in this study. Sixty patients who had myocardial infarction in the past and now need bypass surgery for ongoing coronary artery disease will undergo either bypass surgery and placebo treatment or bypass surgery and injection of CD133 bone marrow cells directly in the heart muscle. The study will be fully blinded, i.e. neither the patient nor the surgeon knows what substance is injected (placebo or cell product). Patients will be followed for 6 months and various heart function measurements will be performed.

To investigate the safety of nitrous oxide (N2O) anaesthesia in patients with risk factors for coronary artery disease undergoing major surgery.

This study compared two different methods of restoring blood flow to the heart when there has been a narrowing or blockage in the blood vessels that supply the heart. Currently there are two different ways of restoring blood flow. One is heart surgery where a surgeon operates directly on the heart, through an incision in the breast bone (sternum) and takes segments of the patient's (non-essential) veins or arteries and then uses these to bypass blocked or narrowed segments in the coronary arteries. This way additional blood can be "piped" into the heart muscle wall. The second method is coronary angioplasty with stent implantation. Coronary angioplasty is a non-surgical method performed under a local anaesthetic. During angioplasty a special balloon is advanced to the site of a coronary narrowing, then inflated to make it expand and this action removes the narrowing. This is a more simple and less invasive than surgery but its value has been limited by a tendency for narrowings to reoccur(restenosis) in the six months following the treatment. When this happens a repeat procedure is often performed. To reduce the incidence of restenosis coronary stents are implanted. These are tubular metal scaffold devices that are placed inside a coronary artery at the site of a previous narrowing to help keep the artery open. These devices are usually delivered on an angioplasty balloon and expanded into place. Both treatments are equally effective at preventing death and subsequent myocardial infarction and most doctors are happy to recommend either option. Angioplasty offers a more simple initial procedure but with a chance of needing a repeat performance. Bypass surgery represents a more significant initial undertaking with a longer recovery and convalescent period but in most cases, provides good relief of symptoms. Patient preference plays an important part in the decision process. Bypass grafting is currently the therapy most frequently performed world-wide. Angioplasty has a number of important advantages but the need for repeat procedures currently limits its appeal. Since these trials were performed there have been important advances in angioplasty techniques. Prominent amongst these has been the development and use of Coronary Stents which has been shown (in clinical trials) to reduce the need for repeat procedures after an initial angioplasty. Consequently stent implantation is now in routine use world wide. If angioplasty is performed with coronary stent implantation then this may reduce the need for repeat procedures and address the principal factor currently limiting the value of this approach. If the results were found to be as good as with bypass grafting then patients could benefit from a shorter hospital stay, a less traumatic operation and a shorter recovery period. We therefore wish to compare the outcomes in patients treated with a) bypass grafting or b) angioplasty with coronary stent implantation.