Active clinical trials for "Heart Failure"

The investigators hypothesised that novel MRI metrics derived from myocardium post-gadolinium T1 mapping analysis will improve the current knowledge about the role interstitial fibrosis and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in the development of left ventricular (LV) remodelling and clinical Heart Failure (HF). The investigators believe that these recently described variables will be associated with prognostically important indices in HF development.

Measuring cardiac contractility is commonly realized with gold standard echocardiography or MRI. Portable devices to measure this contractility are not available as for rhythm and electric function assessment. The new Kinocardiography technology could provide a non invasive and portable tool to measure contractility. This device records the electric and mechanic function of the heart simultaneously. With electrodes and adequate electronics, ECG is recorded. 6 degrees of freedom accelerometers are also included in the device to measure the micro accelerations of the body at the body surface when the device is placed on the skin. Using physics principles and adequate calibration, those accelerations allow the investigators to calculate parameters such as kinetics energies related to cardiac contractility. Kinocardiography is a non invasive and portable technology.

The fundamental hypothesis of this project is that real-time intracardiac pressures can be monitored and quantified noninvasively in humans using a novel contrast-enhanced ultrasound technique called subharmonic-aided pressure estimation (SHAPE).This study will use contrast echocardiography to assess the accuracy of SHAPE compared to simultaneously acquired intracardiac pressures measured invasively during cardiac catheterization. This study is designed to verify that contrast echocardiography using the SHAPE method, already proven in a canine model and tested in a human pilot study can be used as a surrogate for cardiac catheterization with sufficient accuracy to allow clinical applicability in humans.

The purposes of this study is to evaluate the improvement of a stress management involved cardiac rehabilitation program on the psychological states, quality of life and clinical outcomes of patients after acute myocardial infarction or heart failure.

Some patients with heart failure require treatment called cardiac-resynchronisation therapy (CRT) which involves putting a pacemaker into the heart to make both ventricles (the lower chambers of the heart) contract together, making the pumping of the blood to the rest of the body more efficient. it is important to get the CRT pacemaker checked to make sure that it is working correctly and performing its job. However, it can be difficult to adjust the settings of the pacemaker just the right amount to ensure the heart is pumping efficiently. One of the ways this can be done is by using a special machine which uses ultrasound to make a 2-dimensional image of the heart called an echocardiogram. This technique can also be used to measure the flow of blood in the heart and calculate how efficient it is at pumping blood. However adjusting the settings of the pacemaker with this device is difficult to use and time consuming. Electrocardiogram (ECG) a 2-dimensional electrical tracing of the hearts activity is another tool used to help adjust the settings of pacemakers, to make the heart pump more efficiently. Furthermore, recent research has shown that this is better than echocardiogram at optimising pacemaker device settings. A new type of ECG called cardiogoniometry (CGM) has recently been developed which creates a 3-dimensional view of the hearts electrical activity and has already been shown to be better than normal ECG at diagnosing certain conditions like angina and heart attacks. However it has never been used to try optimise the settings of the pacemakers used in CRT and may be quicker and easier to use than then other methods available. More importantly it is hoped by doing this it will reduce the symptoms that patients suffer as it is making the heart pump more efficiently. As it has been untested and never used in this setting before, and there it is necessary to find out if the CGM machine will recognise when the settings on the pacemaker are changed. The aims of this study is to see if the CGM machine can pick up changes to pacemaker settings, with the hope of running a later study to see if it can be used to optimise settings on the pacemaker used in CRT.

Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) is a specialist pacemaker procedure that aims to improve the efficiency of the heartbeat. This treatment is used routinely in patients with heart failure and a delay in electrical conduction across the heart seen on the surface ECG (heart tracing). The investigators aim to assess acute response to CRT and compare different methods of delivering CRT using hemodynamic data from invasive dP/dTmax and electroanatomical data from either invasive mapping or non-invasive body surface mapping.

The aim of the study is to assess invasive and non-invasive parameters that may predict clinical improvement in patients with congestive heart failure after implantation of Occlutech® Atrial flow regulator (AFR) device.

The impact of moderate- or low-intensity resistance training will be investigated additional to endurance training in heart failure patients following rehabilitation. The aim is to optimize intensity of resistance training in this patient population.

the study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of cardiac output (CO) change after the use of trinitrine in the diagnosis of heart failure patients with acute dyspnea.

The purpose of this study is to correlate the three lead placement (wires that go to the heart) possibilities and the responses from the patient's heart. This will be done with the help of an echocardiography and SonR signals, which is an external device that is capable of detecting sounds created by the heart.