Active clinical trials for "Heart Failure"

Patients with a diagnosis of CHF, NYHA class II, III or IV will be recruited for a study comparing a nursing intervention addressing CHF (SIM group) or CHF and depression (CIM group). Participants in the standard illness management program will receive an 8-week, 8-session intervention designed to help them improve daily weighing, salt-restriction, medication management, etc. This intervention will be conducted in a combination of home visits and phone visits. They will also receive interactive, telephone-based daily monitoring that assesses daily weight, dyspnea, fatigue and medication compliance. Patients in the comorbid illness management program will receive the same illness management program PLUS education and behavioral techniques designed to help them cope emotionally with the illness. The comorbid illness management home monitoring will include a twice-monthly screen for depression. Major Variables: The major outcomes will be depressive symptoms, health-related quality of life, functional status, heart failure symptom severity, and self-care behaviors in heart failure.

Despite the development of significant pharmaceutical treatments, morbidity and mortality of chronic heart failure (CHF) patients remain high, patients� quality of life is poor, and their health care utilization is heavy. It is therefore important to find a cost effective non-pharmaceutical treatment to help CHF patients manage the disease. The relaxation response has been found to be effective in managing CHF-related conditions. With its favorable physiological changes, the relaxation response is likely to benefit CHF patients.

Patients with heart failure are limited in their exercise capacity due to skeletal muscle alteration and an impairment of peripheral perfusion. Regular physical exercise training has been shown to partially correct these peripheral maladaptations in patients with stable heart failure, which was associated with an improvement in exercise capacity. However, it is unknown so far, whether regular physical activity also exerts beneficial effects in patients with severe chronic heart failure. Aim of the trial is therefore to assess the effects of aerobic exercise training on exercise capacity, muscle maladaptations and peripheral perfusion in patients with severe chronic heart failure according to NYHA class III b.

The goal of this study is to determine the effect of a functional circuit training program as compared to standard cardiac rehabilitation or control exercise in improving physical function and activity.

The investigators planned to evaluate the effects of liraglutide on left ventricular function in chronic heart failure patients with type 2 diabetes.

Heart failure (HF) is a common and disabling condition in the elderly. Randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses have clearly demonstrated that long-term use of β blockers improves the outcomes of patients with HF. However, limited data have been available on the treatment of HF with preserved ejection fraction (EF) in the elderly. No study has specifically compared the relative effectiveness of carvedilol and nebivolol in treating HF in old age patients with preserved EF.

This study is design to evaluate the effectiveness of oral iron therapy in patients with heart failure and identify the central and peripheral mechanisms involved in the improvement of functional capacity after intervention. The investigation includes subjective and objective measures on exercise performance and heart function after intervention, and the tolerability of oral iron treatment.

The objective of ESCAPE-SCD Study is assessment of the effect of sleep apnea on sudden cardiac death risk and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy. The ESCAPE - SCD Study will address following specific study questions: Is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and/or central sleep apnea (CSA) an independent risk factor of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) indicated for ICD/CRT-D implant based on current European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines for primary prevention of sudden cardiac death? Can treatment of predominant (>50%) obstructive sleep apnea by appropriate Positive Airway Pressure (PAP) therapy decrease risk of sudden cardiac arrhythmic death in ICM patients? Can treatment of predominant (>50%) obstructive sleep apnea by appropriate PAP therapy improve cardiovascular outcomes in ICM patients indicated for ICD/CRT-D implant? Does obstructive sleep apnea represent a novel factor that may improve risk stratification of sudden cardiac death and advance identification of those patients that will benefit from ICD/CRT-D therapy?

Growing recognition of the importance of co-morbidities in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFPEF) has led to the realization that rather than being a distinct disease entity, HFPEF may represent a spectrum of co-morbidities in elderly breathless patients. Accordingly, progress in managing HFPEF in the elderly requires improved understanding of HFPEF pathogenesis with a focus on the impact of co-morbidities. However, the available evidence is insufficient to determine the true prevalence and severity of co-morbidities as well as their impact on both diagnosis and treatment in HFPEF. Therefore there are widespread diagnostic uncertainty without proven therapy! The purpose of this project is twofold: The investigators will study how to improve diagnostic accuracy for HFPEF in elderly patients, despite frequent comorbidities and higher age? How useful is it to add exercise testing and contrast echocardiography as well as biomarker as additional diagnostic tools in elderly HFPEF patients? The investigators will test the hypothesis that HFPEF in the elderly is dominated by multiple co-morbidities that are a major part of the syndrome itself that contribute to the development of HFPEF. This hypothesis implies that the treatment of co-morbidities will improve prognosis. The investigators' overall goal is to bring about a paradigm shift in managing elderly patients with HFPEF by not only improving diagnosis but also effectively treating co-morbidities that are currently considered predisposing factors to HFPEF. This contrasts with trials during last two decades that only target the heart. The investigators will pursue the following specific aims: Validate the diagnostic criteria for HFPEF proposed by European Society of Cardiology 2012, and determine the added diagnostic values of exercise testing and contrast echocardiography as well as biomarker for HFPEF in a multi-center study. Determine if systematic screening and optimal management of co-morbidities associated with HFPEF improves the outcomes of patients with HFPEF in a randomized study.

Management of chronic heart failure (CHF) is a major public health problem. It is associated with high mortality, frequent hospitalization and represents a large cost to the health care system. Both pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention haven't shown to be effective in reducing morbidity and mortality of these patients when able to modulate the activity of neuro-hormonal systems among them the sympathetic nervous system. Recent data have emphasized the potential role of sympathetic renal denervation in patient with hypertension. CHF per se but even more CHF associated with comorbity lead to significant increase level of sympathetic tone. This is largely induced by autonomic dysfunction such as chemo or baroflex abnormalities. These patients usually suffer from conditions which do not allow upgrading and adapting drugs to their sympathetic condition. Hence CHF patient with chronic kidney disease, anemia or both have markedly high sympathetic activity and cannot be exposed to higher level of RAS Blockers or beta blocker due to their renal dysfunction, they thus remain with an elevated sympathetic activity worsening symptoms and prognosis. Chronic heart failure affects around 100 million people worldwild imposing a significant burden on health care system throughout the world. Even though symptoms are improved by heart failure therapy, they remain significantly disabling for many patients. Chronic over activation of the sympathetic nervous system is a major component of heart failure and involves efferent and afferent pathways between brain and many organs. A new therapy directly targeting nerve traffic-renal artery denervation- has been shown to be effective in drug resistant hypertension, with an average drop in blood pressure of 33/12 mm hg. The cardiologists team of the private hospital Arnault Tzanck is willing therefore to conduct a study in 12 patients with chronic systolic heart failure undergoing bilateral renal denervation with an intensive protocol of observation and assessment compring a 3 day hospital stay post procedure 3 and 6 months of regular outpatient follow-up.