Active clinical trials for "Atrial Fibrillation"

Patients requiring long term anticoagulation often undergo transition of their warfarin to heparin in anticipation of invasive surgical procedures such as pacemaker or ICD implantation. This may require inpatient hospitalization several days prior to and after the procedure, potentially increasing medical costs and patient inconvenience. Patients undergoing such a process are initiated on heparin while their INRs drift to normal levels. Immediately prior to surgery, heparin is discontinued and restarted several hours after the procedure. Unfortunately, this process has resulted in a high incidence of surgical wound hematomas and other bleeding complications often requiring longer periods of discontinued anticoagulation or repeat surgical exploration. Previous investigators have tried to reduce the incidence of wound hematomas by prolonging the time from surgical wound closure to the reinitiation of heparin. A small randomized trial demonstrated that there was no significant difference in the incidence of wound hematomas whether heparin was started 6 hours or 24 hours after surgery (J Am Coll Cardiology 2000;35:1915-8). This has led many investigators to perform pacemaker and ICD implantation without reversal of warfarin therapy. A recent retrospective observational study demonstrated that the incidence of wound hematomas in patients with an INR of 2.6 was no different than patients with an INR of 1.5 (PACE 2004;27:358-60). Furthermore, a more recent, larger retrospective observational study reported in abstract form at the recent Heart Rhythm Society Annual 2007 Scientific Meeting demonstrated that not only is performing pacemaker and ICD implantations safe without reversing warfarin anticoagulation, but the incidence of wound hematomas is significantly smaller as compared to the strategy of reversing warfarin and initiating periprocedural heparin. Given these findings, the hypothesis of this randomized study is that pacemaker and ICD implantation while fully anticoagulated on warfarin therapy is safe. Findings from this study will have significant implications on the clinical practice of pacemaker or ICD implantation in this patient population given that no randomized study on this subject has been performed to date.

A pilot, multicentre randomized controlled study of surgical left atrial occlusion (LAA) in 50 patients with atrial fibrillation/flutter undergoing cardiac surgery requiring cardiopulmonary bypass with additional risk factors for late stroke. Patients will be enrolled and randomized to undergo LAA exclusion and aspirin therapy or best medical therapy as per guidelines. Main research questions: Can successful occlusion of the LAA be safely achieved by cut and sew or stapler techniques? In patients with atrial fibrillation with 2 or more risk factors for stroke, will removal of the left atrial appendage (LAA) and aspirin therapy reduce the risk of systemic embolic events and major bleeding compared to warfarin?

This is a clinical study evaluating the efficacy and safety of rivaroxaban for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (originally described in Japanese).

The purpose of this clinical research study is to determine whether apixaban is more effective than acetylsalicylic acid in the prevention of strokes associated with patients with atrial fibrillation. The safety of this treatment will also be studied.

The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy and safety of rivaroxaban with warfarin for the prevention of blood clots in the brain (referred to as stroke) and blood clots in other parts of the body referred to as non-central nervous system systemic embolism) in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (a heart rhythm disorder).

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the ability of clinicians to receive and review information from patients implanted with a heart device over the internet (remote care) is comparable to patients who are seen in-office for routine visits to check the status of their device.

There is substantial evidence linking inflammation to the initiation and perpetuation of AF. Although the precise mechanism by which inflammation contributes to the development of AF remains unclear, it has been proposed that inflammation may lead to "atrial myocarditis" with subsequent electrical and structural changes involving both atrial myocytes and extracellular matrix, leading finally to initiation and maintenance of AF. The high incidence of AF in post-operative cardiac surgeries, a state of intense inflammatory process, points out this association. Similarly, in non operative AF, inflammation appears to play a prominent role in both etiology and maintenance of AF. Indeed an increase of inflammatory markers to both paroxysmal and persistent AF was shown by numerous studies.

In this study, the investigators aim to determine whether injecting botulinum toxin into epicardial fat pads is efficacious and safe for decreasing postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) after cardiac surgery. The investigators will test the hypothesis that botulinum toxin injected into the epicardial fat pads reduces POAF and length of stay (LOS) without increasing adverse events. This will be a prospective randomized trial of 130 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), valve surgery or CABG + valve surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Patients will be randomized to receive either botulinum toxin (50 units per fat pad, n=65) or normal saline/placebo (1 mL per fat pad, n=65) injected into epicardial fat pads. All patients will receive standardized anesthetic, surgical, and post-surgical care. The primary outcome in this study will be time to occurrence of in-hospital POAF. Based on previous work and a pilot trial showing a pronounced reduction (relative risk reduction 77%) in POAF after injecting botulinum into the epicardial fat pads, the investigators anticipate a significant reduction in the risk for POAF with epicardial botulinum in this cohort, which includes valve surgery patients.

This study evaluates the safety and efficiency of surgical prevention of atrial fibrillation in patients with valvular heart disease and left atrium enlargement

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major risk factor for stroke. The identification and treatment of AF is one of the best way to prevent stroke. The problem is that because AF may cause minimal symptoms, it often goes undetected before a patient suffers a stroke. Also, it is known that as many as half of all patients with known AF may not be receiving appropriate anticoagulation for their condition. New technologies are making it possible to improve AF detection. Subjects in this study will be screened for AF using three simple methods: a 30-second pulse check, a hand-held single-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) device and a blood pressure monitor with built-in AF screening capabilities. If more patients with AF can be detected, more patients will be able to receive guideline-recommended anticoagulant therapy, and more strokes, deaths, disability, and dementia will be prevented.