Active clinical trials for "Constriction, Pathologic"

Calcific aortic stenosis (AS) has become the most common cardiac disease after coronary artery disease and hypertension. Unfortunately no medical therapies have been proven to decrease either the progression of valve stenosis or the resulting adverse effects on myocardial remodeling and function. In light of the studies performed in PROGRESSA, it becomes obvious that: i) AS is a complex and actively regulated process that involves the interaction of several pathways including lipid infiltration and retention, chronic inflammation, osteogenic activation, and active mineralization within the valvular tissues; ii) AS is not a disease strictly limited to the aortic valve but rather a systemic disease that often involves calcification and stiffening of the aorta and impairment of LV function as a consequence of pressure overload. Our findings suggest that the dysmetabolic milieu linked to visceral obesity may accelerate the deterioration of the structure and function not only of the aortic valve but also of the aorta and of the left ventricle. These findings open new avenues of research and provide strong impetus for the elaboration of prospective studies focusing on the "valvulo-metabolic risk" in AS. The general hypotheses are: The metabolic abnormalities linked to visceral obesity accelerate (1) the progression of valvular calcification and stenosis, aortic calcification and stiffness; (2) the progression of myocardial fibrosis and dysfunction. The general objectives of the study are to elucidate the mechanisms implicated in the pathogenesis of AS and to identify the metabolic factors that determine the progression of: i) aortic valve calcification and stenosis; ii) myocardial fibrosis and dysfunction; and iii) clinical outcomes. This study will contribute to identifying the key metabolic determinants of AS progression and will pave the way for the future development of non surgical therapies for this disease. The results of this study would provide strong support to the realization of randomized trial to test the efficacy of lifestyle modification program or new pharmacological treatment aiming at the reduction of visceral fat and associated metabolic abnormalities in the AS population. Furthermore, this study will contribute to the identification of novel blood and imaging biomarkers of faster disease progression, which will help to optimize risk stratification and timing of AVR in the AS population.

Background: DNA tells the body how to grow and function. Williams-Beuren syndrome (WS) and Supravalvular Aortic Stenosis (SVAS) are rare diseases caused by changes in a part of a person s DNA. Symptoms of both conditions include vascular problems including narrow blood vessels and supravalvular aortic stenosis (SVAS) or supravalvular pulmonary stenosis. Individuals with WS may also have developmental challenges and personality differences. Researchers at the NIH want to find out why only some people with WS and SVAS have severe symptoms. They want to collect samples and data to see what DNA or environmental changes affect the severity of the disease. Objective: To identify the DNA differences or environmental changes that change the severity of WS and SVAS from person to person. Eligibility: People ages 0-85 with either WS, SVAS, and/or an SVAS-like condition Children and people with WS must have a parent or legal guardian to consent or help answer questions. Design: Participants will be screened with questions and medical history. Participants will have a 60-minute visit. They will provide blood or saliva samples. They or their parent/guardian will: Answer questions about how WS and SVAS affect them. Sign a form releasing their medical records for the study. If participant s regular doctor recommends surgery, researchers will ask the surgeon for skin or tissue samples that they might otherwise discard. These will be used to create stem cells to study in a lab. For up to 20 years, participants will have annual questionnaires by phone, email, or mail about their WS or SVAS. Participants may also be contacted if: They need to provide a new blood or saliva sample. Researchers need any other data. There is a follow-up study.

Traditional and transcatheter surgical treatments of severe aortic valve stenosis (SAVS) are increasing in parallel with the improved life-expectancy. Recent randomized trials (RCTs) reported comparable or non-inferior mortality with transcatheter treatments compared to traditional surgery. However, RCTs have the limitation of being a mirror of the predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria, without reflecting the "real clinical world". Technological improvements have recently allowed the development of minimally invasive surgical accesses and the use of sutureless valves, but their impact on the clinical scenario is difficult to assess because of the monocentric design of published studies and limited sample-size. A prospective multicentre registry including all patients referred for a surgical treatment of SAVS (traditional, through full-sternotomy; minimally-invasive; or transcatheter; with both "sutured" and "sutureless" valves) will provide a "real-world" picture of available results of current surgical options, and will help to clarify the "grey zones" of current guidelines. E-AVR is a prospective observational open registry designed to collect all data from patients admitted for SAVS, with or without coronary artery disease, in 16 cardiac surgery Centres located in six countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and United Kingdom). Patients will be enrolled over a 2-year period and followed-up for a minimum of 5 years to a maximum of 10 years after enrolment. Outcome definitions are concordant with VARC-2 criteria and established guidelines. Primary outcome is 5-year all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes aim at establishing "early" 30-day all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, as well as major morbidity, and "late" cardio-vascular mortality, major morbidity, structural and non-structural valve complications, quality of life and echocardiographic results. The study protocol is approved by Local Ethics Committees. Any formal presentation or publication of data will be considered as a joint publication by the participating physician(s) and will follow the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) for authorship.

Aortic stenosis (AS) is caused by narrowing of one of the main heart valves. Replacing the valve is the only treatment to prevent the heart from failing or death. The timing of replacement is currently often too late - half of patients are left with permanent scarring and a quarter die within 3.5 years. Studies are underway to see if earlier replacement makes a difference. But for those with scarring of the heart, there is currently no tailored treatment. I want to change this by understanding why and how patients with scar are dying and what the investigators can do to prevent this. In this study, the investigators will use a heart scan (MRI) to detect scarring before valve replacement. After replacement, patients will receive a tiny monitor (paper clip size), which the investigators inject underneath the skin. This monitor continuously checks the heartbeat and can detect increased body fluid due to heart failure. The investigators will monitor patients for an average of 3 years to see if scarring is linked to abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure. Once the investigators know how and why, the investigators can target patients with available medications and design studies using specialised treatments, eg defibrillator implantation, to protect patients with scar from dying.

This study is designed to evaluate clinical outcomes and spine fusion rates for patients undergoing transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion using the CONDUIT 3D printed titanium TLIF cage.

Liver transplantation (LT) is an essential treatment for end-stage liver disease. Although clinical outcomes of LT recipients have markedly improved, anastomotic biliary strictures (ABS) are still occurred in 10-40% of post-LT patients. In the Korea, living donor LT (LDLT) is the more common than deceased donor LT (DDLT). When LDLT is performed, the right lobe graft is usually used, and the right anterior and posterior segmental bile ducts (RASD/RPSD) of the graft are reconstructed by the duct-to-duct anastomosis method to the common hepatic duct of the recipient. When ABS occurs in LDLT recipients, the stricture site is often very tight and twisted. So, conventional endoscopic procedure is challenging and success rate of ERCP for ABS is still unsatisfactory (about 60%). Furthermore, approach to the RPSD is more intricate than that to RASD because the duct opening is located deeper in a posterior aspect. Therefore, despite being able to benefit the patient, bilateral drainage (both RASD and RPSD) is considered to be more difficult and unilateral drainage of RASD is mainly performed. In 2015, high-resolution cholangioscopy (SpyGlass™) was introduced. The system enables direct visualization of the bile and pancreatic ducts strictures. The 3rd Generation SpyScope DS II Access & Delivery Catheter introduced in 2018, features increased resolution and adjusted lighting to provide physicians with an even better view of the biliary and pancreatic ducts. To date, only several retrospective studies have evaluated the efficacy of SpyGlass for guidewire placement across the ABS and to the best of our knowledge only one prospective study is ongoing (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT #03205072). In that study ABS in both LDLT and DDLT patients are enrolled. Private communications with the Sponsor of this study, however, have reported that only approximately 10% of the cases are LDLT cases. In addition, there is no reported paper about the usefulness of Spyglass for bilateral drainage and its clinical benefit in post LT ABS. If successful bilateral drainage is performed by using Spyglass, it may be more helpful for patients than unilateral drainage as it allows sufficient drainage of the transplanted liver. With this prospective study, we intends to investigate the efficacy of Spyglass for bilateral drainage of ABS in LDLT patients and improve drainage success rate. This results can be used as clinical basis for further studies such as randomized controlled trial.

Due to a lack of therapeutic options, the diagnosis of cardiac (wt)-ATTR amyloidosis was for a long time overshadowed by other diseases and therefore was or still is often diagnosed with considerable delay. The aim of the study is to estimate the prevalence of cardiac amyloidosis among patients with mild-to-moderate aortic valve stenosis (AS). Besides that a screening algorithm based on echocardiographic parameters will be developed, to facilitate the early detection of cardiac amyloidosis.

The objective of this data-collection study is to retrospectively evaluate the safety and clinical performance of the Portico transthoracic aortic valve for Valve-in-Valve treatment of a failed aortic surgical bioprosthetic valve in patients who are considered at increased surgical risk for a redo surgical aortic valve replacement.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of two minimal invasive spine surgery, minimally invasive spinal decompression (MIS-D) and minimally invasive spinal decompression and fusion (MIS-TLIF), for patients diagnosed with lumbar spinal stenosis in terms of clinical outcomes, complications, reoperations, and other perioperative data.

Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid stenting (CAS) are often performed for subgroups of patients for whom procedural benefit has not been established in randomised trials and despite evidence of serious procedural risk. In some places, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult or impossible to perform CEA and CAS in time. This study aims to measure the rate of ipsilateral stroke and other complications in individuals with symptomatic carotid stenosis, whom for any reason are managed using current best medical intervention alone. The investigators expect at least 50% lowering of the ipsilateral stroke rate compared to that seen with medical intervention alone in past randomised trials.