Active clinical trials for "Atrial Fibrillation"

To detect atrial fibrillation after infection.

Transcatheter left atrial antral ablation, aiming at complete electrical isolation of the pulmonary veins (PVI), has become mainstay in atrial fibrillation (AF) treatment. This approach has been proved superior to medical rhytmh control strategy in maintaining sinus rhythm. Moreover PVI has been associated with significant survival benefit in patients with heart failure and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. Nevertheless, despite progress in the field of catheter ablation, recurrence rates remain high. Inhibitors of type 2 sodium- glucose co-transporter (SGLT2i) is a relatively recent addition to the array of anti-diabetic agents, becoming part of everyday clinical practice. However, although SGLT2i were first used solely as antidiabetics because of their glycosuric effect, further research demonstrated that these drugs may independently reduce cardiovascular events, especially in patients with heart failure, a benefit that was consistent among diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Moreover, pleiotropic effects have been observed, including a reno-protective action. These findings suggest that SGLT2i mechanisms of action extend beyond the obvious increase in urinary sodium and glucose excretion. Various studies propose that these drugs promote favourable metabolic changes in myocardial energetics, while they also inhibit inflamation and sympathetic activation, resulting in restriction of induced fibrosis and structural remodeling, which are key elements in atrial fibrillation generation and maintenance. These findings suggest that the use of SGLT2i could offer antiarrhythmic benefit by reducing and/or reversing structural and electrical remodeling, leading to the assumption that use of theese drugs could reduce recurrences after transcatheter AF ablation.

Atrial fibrillation is a cardiac arrhythmia commonly encountered in a primary care setting. Current screening is limited to pulse palpation and ECG confirmation when an irregular pulse is found. Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation will, however, still be difficult to pick up. With the advent of smartphones, screening could be more cost-efficient by making use of simple applications, lowering the need for intensive screening to discover (paroxysmal) atrial fibrillation. This cluster randomized trial will examine the effect of using a smartphone-based application such as FibriCheck® on the detection rate of atrial fibrillation in a Flemish general practice population. This study will be conducted in 22 primary care practices across the Flanders region of Belgium and will last 12 months. Patients above 65 years of age will be divided in control and intervention groups on the practice level. The control group will be subjected to standard opportunistic screening only, while the intervention group will be prescribed the FibriCheck® app on top of this opportunistic screening. The difference in detection rate between control and intervention groups will be calculated at the end of the study. The investigators will use the online platform INTEGO for pseudonymized data collection and analysis, and risk calculation. Smartphone applications might offer a way to cost-effectively screen for (paroxysmal) atrial fibrillation in a primary care setting. This could open the door for the update of future screening guidelines.

New-onset of atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial arrythmia (AA) in general, is important as it exposes patients to stroke or other embolic complications not to mention the risk of heart failure. AF detection in high risk populations such as patients with a recent stroke or TIA or, symptomatic patients with multiple risk factors for AF, is performed with long-term electrocardiography monitoring using frequently implantable loop recorders (ILR). These recorders have their own limitations related to the invasive nature of the device implanted under the skin of the chest with limited acceptation by the patients. Smart watches appear as useful alternatives, but they need to be evaluated in an all-comer population of patients highly exposed to AF, different from the large population studies conducted in healthy young adults with a low incidence of AF. The unique features of CardiacSense Medical System suggest that we could have an accurate noninvasive detection of AF in a selected population very much exposed to the risk of atrial fibrillation, the most frequent atrial arrhythmia.

Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is a common complication following cardiac surgery and leads to worse outcomes. POAF is thought to be caused by the inflammatory state following cardiac surgery. It may be that anti-inflammatory medications could lower the occurrence of POAF, however many typical anti-inflammatory medications, such as ibuprofen, are contraindicated in the post cardiac surgery patient due to increased risks of bleeding. If a drug was identified with anti-inflammatory properties with minimal deleterious side effects, this could be broadly applied to cardiac surgery patients for the prevention of POAF. Interestingly, several small trials have shown that medications that alter transcription of inflammatory markers lead to decreased POAF. Furthermore, we have shown that phytochemicals, such as those found in grapes, have excellent bioavailability and can affect cardiac gene transcription related to inflammation. In this study, we propose to evaluate the efficacy of preoperative administration of concentrated grape powder in the prevention of POAF.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia. Worldwide, the incidence of atrial fibrillation in men and women is 596.2 per 100,000 and 373.1 per 100,000, respectively. [1] The prevalence of AF in China is 0.97%.[2] AF increases the risk of stroke, heart failure and death. Ischemic stroke occurs in 25% of hospitalized patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation according to a single-center clinical study in China. [3,4] Complications associated with AF place a huge burden on the healthcare system, with an estimated 4.9 billion RMB for patients with AF in China, 89% of which are caused by AF-related strokes.[5] According to the 2018 AHA/ACC/HRS guideline [6], catheter ablation was recommended for paroxysmal AF that is symptomatic and refractory or intolerable to at least one class I or III antiarrhythmic drug. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a necessary preoperative examination for catheter ablation of patients with AF in order to exclude thrombus in the left atrium and left atrial appendage (LAA) and to prevent thrombotic complications caused by thrombus shedding during the procedure. However, TEE detection, like gastroscopy, requires transpharyngeal insertion of the probe into the esophagus and should be fasted before it. The TEE probe is thicker than the gastroscope, which can increase the discomfort of the patient during the examination. At the same time, if the patient cooperates poorly during the delivery process, the probe may damage the oropharyngeal or esophageal mucosa, causing complications such as bleeding or perforation. Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) is a new technique that can completely replace TEE in excluding thrombus in left atrium and left atrial appendage. The advantages are that the catheter is inserted from the femoral vein without the discomfort of stimulating the swallowing reflex caused by TEE examination; To avoid complications such as bleeding or perforation caused by injury to oropharynx or esophageal mucosa; It can be used in frail, elderly, pharyngeal or esophageal lesions (eg, ulcers, varices), or intolerable patients. Some studies have shown that ICE is an important test for the diagnosis of LAA thrombosis, especially when thrombus is described as a soft thrombus. TEE is the gold standard for the detection of thrombi in the LAA before catheter ablation for AF. ICE is used to assist AF ablation; however, ICE is also accurate for LAA visualization and minimizes the complications during procedures[7]. The primary purpose of this study aimed at determining whether ICE could replace TEE by minimizing the procedural-related complications but not compromise the detection of thrombi in the LAA.

. New- onset postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is a common complication after cardiac surgery and its occurrence increases with age. POAF can result in clinically significant morbidity and mortality. The national trend in the US is that the population older than 65 years is increasing, making healthcare expenditure related to POAF to be a major burden on health care system. Effective treatment of POAF is imperative in ensuring quality of care and reduction of costs. In 2021 there is a projected total of 377,763 cardiovascular surgeries in the US alone with approximately half of which will have POAF with longer postoperative length of stay (+3.9 days) and higher discharge costs (+$13,993) than no-POAF patients (Reference: Ann Thorac Surg. 2015 Jan;99(1):109-14). Amiodarone, the currently used therapy, is often insufficient to prevent POAF and has multiple side-effects. In this study, we expect to improve the incidence of POAF by using a common acne drug (Minocycline) that is safe and that could be incorporated in clinical care of this disease.

Patients with cancer have a higher incidence of AF but despite the higher incidence of AF in the cancer population, there are no randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for AF screening in this population. RCTs of AF screening in the general population have shown that screening can effectively detect AF earlier, and helps to identify candidates for appropriate anticoagulation that may lead to improvement in clinical outcomes.

Hypertension and atrial fibrillation (AF) are two major public health problems worldwide. Hypertension is an important risk factor for AF, and the combination of which could significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular adverse events, and result greater disability rate and mortality. Hypertension can stimulate cardiomyocytes apoptosis, drive renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) activation, lead to left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and finally result in the structure remodeling of the atrium, which can trigger AF development through influence on myocardial electrical activity. Previous studies have found that angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) seem to be more efficient in preventing AF when hypertension combined heart failure or LVH, but not completely clear in others with hypertension. Azilsartan is a new ARB, it replaces the tetrazole ring of the traditional ARB with the oxadiazole ring, which making it binds to the angiotensin type 1 (AT1) receptor more tightly, dissociate more slowly, and has a stronger antihypertensive effect. It was reported that Azilsartan could inhibit cell proliferation, reduce inflammation and oxidative stress. However, whether Azilsartan can reduce the risk of AF in hypertensive patients, and the possible corresponding mechanism is still unclear. Accordingly, the investigators designed this study intending to evaluate the effect of Azilsartan on the incidence of AF in hypertensive patients combined with LVH, and to explore the possible mechanism. This study is a practical, multicenter randomized controlled research method, the investigators will include 400 patients with hypertension and LVH who meet the inclusion criteria in Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital and other centers. The patients would be divided into the Azilsartan group and conventional treatment group randomly, and be followed up regularly for 12 months. The incidence of AF in the two groups would be compared through the flexible intelligent ECG monitoring system, and the optimal blood pressure control, also the left ventricular hypertrophy and left atrial function would be evaluated. This study will provide evidence for the use of Azilsartan in blood pressure control and lower risk for AF patients with hypertension and LVH. It will be benefit for improving prognosis of patients with hypertension combined LVH, reducing the incidence of AF, and achieving good social economic effects.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia worldwide. AF is associated with obesity and the co-morbidities of obesity, including hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) which increase left atrial (LA) size and decrease LA function. Semaglutide, a Glucagon-like peptide receptor 1 agonist (GLP-1 RA), is currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for weight loss for individuals with and without diabetes. The effects of pharmacologic weight loss with Semaglutide on AF are unknown. The investigators plan on conducting a randomized controlled trial of semaglutide versus placebo in individuals with paroxysmal or early persistent AF (>10% AF burden on ambulatory monitoring, a previous electrical cardioversion, or AF lasting ≥ 7 days but < 3 months who have a body mass index ≥ 27.0 kg/m2. The trial will last for 52 weeks. The primary outcome will be the change in AF burden for 2 weeks, immediately before starting the medication or placebo to two weeks starting at week 50, as determined by an implantable loop recorder or two week ambulatory Additional outcomes will be change in epicardial adipose tissue as determined by chest/abdomen/pelvis computed tomography scan at enrollment and at week 52, change in apnea-hypopnea index from baseline sleep study to week 52 sleep study, change in LA longitudinal strain from baseline echocardiogram to echocardiogram at 52 weeks, and change on symptom surveys.