Active clinical trials for "Death, Sudden, Cardiac"

This is a prospective, multi-center cohort study of patients with a history of coronary artery disease (CAD) and documentation of either a prior myocardial infarction (MI) or mild to moderate left ventricular dysfunction (LVEF 35-50%). The primary objective of this study is to determine whether biologic markers and ECGs can be utilized to advance SCD risk prediction in patients with CHD and LVEF>30-35%. The overarching goal of the study is to identify a series of markers that alone or in combination specifically predict risk of arrhythmic death as compared to other causes of mortality among this at risk population of coronary heart disease (CHD) patients with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF> 30-35%). If biologic or ECG markers are identified that can specifically predict risk of ventricular arrhythmias, then these markers may serve as relatively inexpensive methods to identify those at risk. The public health impact of identifying markers could be quite substantial, leading to more efficient utilization of ICDs and advances in our understanding of mechanisms underlying SCD.

Survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is time critical and diminishes rapidly without appropriate intervention. Bystander CPR at least doubles the chances of survival and the additional use of a public access defibrillator (PAD) can again double overall survival rates. PADs are designed to be easy and simple to use, but whether untrained bystanders can use them safely and effectively is unknown. This study will aim to assess the ability of untrained bystanders to deploy a PAD in a simulated cardiac arrest.

This study will involve the use of therapeutic hypothermia. This prospective cohort pilot study will evaluate the clinical performance of a new device, the ThermoSuit™ System, to achieve therapeutic hypothermia in comatose patients following resuscitation from cardiac arrest, and the impact of the vasodilator, magnesium sulfate, on cooling performance and hemodynamics in these patients. The study hypothesis is that magnesium sulfate will significantly increase the rate of cooling.

Background: The impact of the known non-invasive cardiac indices for identification of hemodialysis (HD) patients at high-risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD) has not been evaluated. Patients: Fifty-nine HD patients were randomized into 2 groups. Thirty of them (group A-aged 54.6±8.9 years) participated in a supervised training program with stationary bicycles during their HD sessions (3/weekly) for 10 months, while the rest (group B-aged 53.2±6.1 years) remained untrained and were used as controls. Study hypothesis: Exercise training will affect most of the non-invasive cardiac markers of SCD and the total score positively. Method: At entry, as well as at the end of the study all subjects underwent a cardiopulmonary exercise testing (estimation of aerobic capacity-VO2peak), an echocardiographic study (LV ejection fraction -LVEF evaluation), an ambulatory 24-hour Holter monitoring for cardiac autonomic nervous system activity evaluation by time- and frequency- domain heart rate variability (HRV) calculation (measurement of SDNN, mean RR and low to high frequency ratio-LF/HF), a signal-averaged ECG (late potentials-LP documentation) and a submaximal exercise test for microvolt-T-wave alternans (TWA) detection.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the long-term use of highly (>98%) purified EPA, in addition to HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor (statin), would be more effective than statin alone in preventing cardiovascular events in Japanese patients with hypercholesterolemia.

Determination the success rate of CPR on adults in Emergency room and predicting the factors that makes CPR is successful.

The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of stearidonic acid when used as a food ingredient on eicosapentaenoic enrichment of red blood cell membranes and Omega-3 Index in men and women.

To determine whether the regular administration of the beta-blocker drug propranolol to people who had had at least one documented myocardial infarction would result in a significant reduction of mortality from all causes over the follow-up period. Eligible volunteer patients were recruited to participate in a double-blind clinical trial within 21 days after the onset of the acute event. One-half of the patients were randomly assigned to a beta-blocking drug (propranolol) and one-half to a placebo. The trial also evaluated the effect of propranolol on incidences of coronary heart disease mortality, sudden cardiac death, and nonfatal myocardial infarction plus coronary heart disease mortality in persons with documented previous myocardial infarction.

Despite advances in treatment of conventional cardiovascular risk factors, patients with kidney disease remain at high risk for fatal cardiac events. To date, kidney disease affects approximately 2 million Canadians; however, this patient population remains grossly understudied due to the complex nature of the disease. The inadequacy of the literature to address the cardiovascular-related mortality rates in those with kidney disease reflects the urgent need for investigation of novel risk factors. One cardiovascular risk factor which has recently been validated is the clinical measurement of cardiac autonomic tone (CAT). CAT refers to the amount of activity contributed by the stimulatory and inhibitory limbs of the cardiac autonomic nervous system, which work in concert with one another to control heart rate. CAT can be quantified computer analysis of heart rate over time, captured by a simple Holter electrocardiogram (ECG) recording. Abnormal CAT, which occurs when the autonomic system does not control heart rate properly in response to physical demands or stress, is associated with risk of adverse cardiovascular events in both healthy and high risk populations. It has recently been shown that patients with severe kidney disease demonstrate significant CAT abnormalities, thus exaggerated susceptibility to cardiac death. Vitamin D (VD) deficiency is also common in this patient population due to the fact that the kidney plays a crucial role in VD metabolism. Given that VD deficiency is an established cardiovascular risk factor on its own, it is possible that kidney disease patients experienced compounded risk due to the combination of VD deficiency and abnormal CAT. However, no study has ever investigated whether VD deficiency influences CAT in healthy or diseased populations. To our knowledge, this will be the first trial to ever examine the effect, if any, of different VD supplementation treatments (standard of care vs. combination) on CAT in a population burdened with overwhelming risk and incidence of cardiovascular and sudden cardiac death risk.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the incidence of recurrent life threatening ventricular arrhythmias in patients with an implanted cardiac defibrillator (ICD) can be reduced if a surgical left stellate ganglionectomy is performed.