Active clinical trials for "Cardiomyopathies"

BACKGROUND: Chagas Disease (ChD) remains as one of the most neglected diseases in the world, with 8-10 million infected people and only one marginally effective therapeutic. The lack of good biomarkers for active infection or clinical end-points poses a problem for assessing the performance of new drugs or therapeutic interventions. Among the biomarkers, several studies showed that Brain Natriuretic Peptide (NT-ProBNP) is accurate maker of left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction. OBJECTIVE: Our long term goal is to establish The Sao Paulo-Minas Gerais Tropical Medicine Research Center (SaMi-Trop) as a Center of Excellence for Neglected Infectious Disease Research in Brazil. The Specific Aims are to begin that process by focusing on Trypanosoma cruzi infection with the goal of finding an array of biomarkers that correlate with parasite persistence and Chagas cardiac disease status that can be used to infer risk of disease progression and death as well used as markers of cure (parasite eradication) or clinical efficacy (stabilize or reverse cardiac damage) of novel drugs METHOD: The investigators established a prospective cohort of 1,959 patients with chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC). The study is being conducted in 21 cities of the northern part of Minas Gerais state in Brazil, and includes a follow up of at least two years (baseline and 24 months) . The evaluation included collection of socio-demographic information, social determinants of health, health-related behaviours, comorbidities, medicines in use, history of previous treatment for Chagas Disease (ChD), symptoms, functional class, quality of life, blood sample collection and ECG.

Myocardial protection is a major issue in cardiac surgery, since inadequate protection increases the risk of postoperative cardiac dysfunction. The main principle of myocardial protection in cardiac surgery is to preserve myocardial function by preventing ischemia with blood cardioplegia . Previous studies have shown that adenosine as an adjunct to blood cardioplegia can be safely used in cardiac surgery. In the Amphia Hospital, adenosine is already used as standard care as an initial cardioplegic bolus in minimally invasive port access operations. Whether, adenosine as an adjunct to intermittent warm blood cardioplegia, has an added value remains unclear. Therefore the investigators would like to investigate the effect of the addition of adenosine to standard intermittent warm blood cardioplegia in patients scheduled for minimally invasive, port access operations (mitral valve surgery). Half of the participants will receive standard intermittent warm blood cardioplegia, while the other half will receive intermittent warm blood cardioplegia enriched with adenosine.

This study was conducted on 24 patients who have ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy, underwent non cardiac surgery in the lower half of the body under the effect of combined spinal epidural anesthesia at Assiut university hospital. Intraoperative Hemodynamic monitoring including invasive blood pressure, heart rate, and CVP was established, in addition to pre and postoperative, 12 lead ECG, echocardiography, and venous sampling for Brain natriuretic peptide measurement were done . This study tried to assess the safety of this anesthetic technique on such group of cardiac patients along over the hospital stay period and up to 6 months postoperatively, in addition to the predictability of Brain natriuretic peptide as a cardiac biomarker regarding to the major adverse cardiac events and cardiac mortality for these group of patients .

The purpose of this study is to determine clinical outcomes related to deactivation of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy device in subjects with super response.

Cardiomyopathy in children is a serious disease which can result in death, disability, heart transplantation or serious heart rhythm disorders. Doctors know little about the causes of cardiomyopathy but would like to learn more. In fact, up to 50-75% of cases in children have no known cause. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to identify genes that cause cardiomyopathy or that influence how people with cardiomyopathy do over time. These findings could improve disease prevention, surveillance, early management, and prognosis.

Rationale: Sudden cardiac death, mainly caused by ventricular arrhythmias (VA), is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM). Therapies that effectively prevent VA are lacking. Improved understanding of the substrate and mechanisms of VA in NICM may allow more effective, individualized and substrate-based therapies to be developed. In addition, risk stratification in NICM needs to be improved so that therapies can be allocated more efficiently. Objectives: 1) To improve our understanding of the underlying pro-arrhythmic substrate and electrophysiologic mechanisms of VA in NICM, and to develop individualized treatment for VA based on the identified substrate. 2) To improve risk stratification for VA and sudden cardiac death in NICM based on substrate characteristics. 3) to evaluate disease progression in NICM. Hypothesis: Improved understanding of the substrate and mechanisms of VA in NICM may allow more effective, individualized and substrate-based therapies to be developed. Study design: A prospective cohort study. Study population: The study population will consist of three groups (A, B and C): NICM patients with documented VA, suspected VA or intermediate to high risk for VA (according to established criteria) who are not referred for cardiac surgery (group A), NICM patients with documented VA, suspected VA or a high risk for VA who are referred for cardiac surgery (group B) and a control group consisting of patients without NICM who are referred for cardiac surgery (group C). Evaluation: All patients will be evaluated according to current standards for patients with NICM. Evaluation will include 24h-Holter, echocardiography, coronary angiogram and contrast-enhanced MRI (CE-MRI). If CE-MRI is performed in another hospital, additional recordings will be performed in our hospital. Additionally, blood samples (arterial, cardiac venous and peripheral venous) for collagen turnover markers will be taken from all patients. 123-iodine metaiodobenzylguanidine (123-I MIBG) imaging, electrophysiologic study and endomyocardial biopsy will be performed in group A and B. Intra-operative biopsy will be performed in group B and C. Intervention: In group B, intra-operative mapping and cryo-ablation and postoperative electrophysiologic study will be performed in patients with subepicardial late enhancement on MRI or induced VA suspected for an subepicardial origin. Main study parameters/endpoints: The main study parameters are extent, location and pattern of fibrosis on imaging and in biopsy specimens. The main study endpoints are inducibility of VA, type of induced VA, spontaneous VA and type of spontaneous VA.

Arrhythmias remain a major health problem, causing at least 250,000 deaths annually in the United States. Pharmacological treatments often do more harm than good, and device therapies are limited by high cost and effects on quality of life. Ion channel mutations cause rare inherited arrhythmopathies, but account for only a small fraction of patients with life- threatening arrhythmias and sudden death. Most arrhythmias occur during myocardial ischemia, following myocardial infarction, and in patients with poor left ventricular (LV) function of any etiology. Aside from ejection fraction (EF), few clinically useful indicators to stratify the risk of sudden death have been identified. The role of subtle difference in ion channel expression and/or structure in predisposing patients to arrhythmias and modulating the risk of sudden death is unknown. In this study, we are prospectively testing whether polymorphisms in ion channels and ion channel modifying genes are associated with arrhythmias in a population with internal cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) and poor LV function. We will test the hypothesis that functional polymorphisms in the coding sequences and promoter regions of cardiac genes (e.g. ion channels, beta-adrenergic receptors) predispose individuals to arrhythmias and /or heart failure progression. We hope to identify genetic predictors for the common forms of sudden cardiac death. This would allow the identification of a subpopulation of heart failure patients that would benefit most from ICD placement.

The purpose of this project is to conduct a preliminary test of the feasibility of a multi-micronutrient intervention to improve micronutrient status, cardiac function and quality of life in Veterans with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF).

The primary goal of the study is to measure in the intact human heart, the alterations in gene expression over time that are associated with reverse remodeling in response to β-blockade. The second goal is to investigate the signaling mechanisms which in turn are responsible for these changes in gene expression, and the third goal is to determine the relationship between intrinsic systolic dysfunction and remodeling of the left ventricle. This will be accomplished by measuring ventricular size, function, and gene expression in myocardial tissue samples obtained by percutaneous biopsy prior to initiation of β-blockade and at 3 and 12 months after start of therapy. The specific Aims and Hypotheses to be tested are: Aim: Determine the changes in gene expression associated with changes in intrinsic systolic function and with functional decompensation in the intact, failing human heart. a. Hypothesis: Changes in the expression of select genes precede or accompany changes in left ventricular systolic function in humans with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC). Aim: Identify signaling mechanisms responsible for alterations in expression of key genes involved in mediation of ventricular hypertrophy or contractile dysfunction. a. Hypothesis: Myocardial-failure-associated regulation of select messenger ribonucleic acids and proteins are related to left ventricular wall stress and neurohormonal signaling. Aim: In the relationship between contractile dysfunction and dilatation/remodeling, determine the relationship between contractile dysfunction and structural remodeling. b. Hypothesis: the contractile dysfunction is primary and structural remodeling secondary.

Background: - Research has shown that certain proteins in cells may be linked to higher risks of developing inflammations, tumors, and other medical problems. By examining how the blood cells of healthy volunteers respond to environmental exposures, researchers hope to better understand the relationship of genes, environmental factors, and human diseases. Objectives: - To examine how specific genes and proteins in blood cells respond to environmental exposures. Eligibility: - Healthy volunteers between 18 and 45 years of age. Design: The study will involve one visit of 45 to 60 minutes. Participants will be screened with a brief physical examination and finger stick to determine if they are eligible to donate blood for the study, and will complete a questionnaire about any medications or other drugs (e.g., cigarettes) they may be taking. Participants will provide a blood sample for research purposes.