Active clinical trials for "Univentricular Heart"

Purpose: The purpose of the Destination Therapy Evaluation for Failing Fontan Study (DEFINe Study) is to perform a single center physician-investigator led feasibility study to initiate examination of the safety and efficacy of implanting continuous flow circulatory support devices in 20 patients with failing Fontan physiology, not amenable to other surgical or medical therapy and who are not candidates for heart transplantation. Based upon the results of the DEFINe study, consideration would be given to a larger multicenter study. The primary endpoint is survival without a disabling stroke at two years. Safety, functional status, total days alive following hospital discharge and quality of life assessments will be evaluated as secondary endpoints. Background: Patients born with the congenital anomaly of a single ventricle often undergo Fontan procedures to improve oxygenation and circulation. As the patient matures, the benefits of the Fontan procedures become exhausted. These patients present as young adults with heart failure, and should be considered for heart transplantation. "Failed Fontan" physiology patients are now more commonly surviving into their 30s and 40s due to the advancement in surgical Fontan procedures over the last several decades. Yet, many patients are not appropriate transplant candidates due to progression of pulmonary failure that surpasses the pulmonary vascular resistance limits, end organ failure effects to the liver, and cardiac failure that does not present with left ventricular ejection fractions of less than 25%. Congenital heart disease is considered a higher risk indication for transplantation. Such patients present a complex anatomy, scar tissue from prior procedures, unique pathological states and limited ability to assess hemodynamics. Methods: Patients with failing Fontan physiology will be evaluated for surgical intervention, heart transplantation or participation in the study for long-term support, known as Destination Therapy (DT). Patients who do not meet the study criteria will be asked to participate in a sub-study to collect patient information. Consenting patients who meet the study criteria will be implanted with a HeartMate II Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) to improve cardiac output. Following VAD implantation, the patient will recover in the hospital, and then discharge to home or an approved facility. Study data will be collected as long as the patient receives VAD support. Placement of the VAD and continuing patient care should improve cardiac output and quality of life for this population of patients born with the congenital anomaly of a single ventricle. Outcomes: The primary endpoint of the study is to examine survival without a disabling stroke at two years (defined as a score of four or greater on the Modified Rankin Scale). Safety, functional status, total-days-alive following hospital discharge, and quality of life assessments will be evaluated as secondary endpoints.

The goal of this observational study is to learn about how a prescribed Exercise Training Program would affect children living with a Fontan circulation. From birth, the children who are born with single functioning ventricle will undergo 3-staged Fontan surgery to achieve a unique Fontan circulation, supported by one functioning ventricle. With advancement in surgical technique and medical care, there are increasing number of children living with Fontan circulating surviving into adulthood. A significant number of these individuals develop complications in their adulthood due to problems related to this unique circulation, including reduced exercise tolerance, heart failure, abnormal heart rhythm or premature death. Many of these children have acquired sedentary lifestyle, and may have lower self-perceived health related quality of life. Exercise training is a well-established therapy used in adult population with heart failure. It has been shown to be safe in children with congenital heart disease and with Fontan circulation, it improves their aerobic exercise capacity which is associated with better outcomes. The main question[s] it aims to answer are the impact of a Exercise Training program on: Single ventricle function Exercise capacity Self-perceived quality of life Skeletal muscle mass Participants will be given a 20-weeks exercise program, 3 sessions of 30 minutes workout weekly, to carry out at home. The following tests will be performed prior to starting and upon completion of the exercise program: Echocardiogram Cardiopulmonary exercise test Body composition scan using a bio-impedance analyser Quality of life questionnaires

Patients after the Fontan operation at a single institution will be randomized to receive a standardized extract of Aesculus hippocastanum L. (horse chestnut) or placebo for 4 months in a crossover clinical trial. The primary outcome will be the mesenteric artery resistance measured by Dopple sonography.

To determine if an exercise program of passive range of motion (ROM) is safe and feasible in infants with single ventricle (SV) physiology after their Norwood procedure.

Recent studies have shown beneficial effects of sildenafil in patients with single ventricle congenital heart disease. The purpose of this study is to determine whether Bosentan, a drug with similar effects, will have similar benefit in this patient population.

Single ventricular (SV) heart was a uniformly fatal condition before the advances in surgical treatment in 1980. In the present era, 5-year survival rate with SV is 75%, with some centers, including the Stollery Children's Hospital reporting higher survival. Although mortality remains a major concern, the research focus has shifted to management of late complications as well as improving patient physical and mental health related quality of life issues. Children with SV have reduced exercise tolerance and this is progressive through adulthood. Recent advances in remote health assessment and telehealth systems have allowed the development of medically supervised home graduated physical training for adult cardiac patient rehabilitation. To our knowledge, the application of these technologies has not been applied to SV patients. The long term goal is to use this technology to improve patient exercise capacity and to positively influence parental and patient perceptions of the patient's physical ability.

The normal heart has four chambers. There are two upper (or filling) chambers and are called the atrium. There are two lower (or pumping) chambers and are called the ventricles. One of the ventricles pumps blood to the lungs to get oxygen. This oxygenated blood is returned to the heart then pumped to the rest of the body by the other ventricle. Sometimes babies are born with heart defects that only allow one of the lower chambers (ventricle) to work properly. This means that the one ventricle must pump blood to both the lungs and to the rest of the body. Babies born with this defect must undergo multiple surgeries, the first of which is usually done during their first week of life. There is a machine that is FDA approved that can measure how much oxygen is delivered to the brain. This non-invasive (outside the body) machine uses Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), which is similar technology used in pulse oximetry and is routinely used to measure the level of oxygen in blood. At Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, we typically place the NIRS machine on the baby in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit immediately after their first surgery to monitor oxygen delivery to the brain. The monitor has proven to be accurate in this situation. We now want to know if we can use this monitor to assess oxygen delivery to the brain before and during a routine heart catheterization prior to the child's second surgery. Once consent is obtained, we will place a probe on the child's forehead during the pre-catheterization visit and obtain readings for 5 minutes. The probes are about the size of a quarter and are self-stick (they look like the kind of leads used to measure the babies heart rate [EKG]). The machine will be disconnected for the rest of the Pre-catheterization visit, however the probes will stay on the child's forehead. Once the child is in the catheterization suite, the machine will be reconnected. A sheath or hollow tube is routinely placed in a blood vessel in the child's neck or groin for the catheterization. The doctor would place a special catheter in this sheath that measures oxygen levels in blood continuously. This monitor would be calibrated by using the results of a blood sample that is routinely drawn from the child's IV. During the same sampling, an additional 2cc's of blood would be collected to measure the lactate level. The lactate level is an indicator of how well the child is using oxygen. Once this monitor is calibrated, data will be collected for 5 minutes to compare it with the NIRS machine. The special catheter will be removed after the 5-minute time period, and the catheterization will proceed as usual. The NIRS probes will stay on the child's forehead during the entire catheterization with the data documented. At the end of the catheterization, the probes will be removed.

This study is a 12-month (52 week) safety extension study to supplement the FUEL Phase III clinical trial to provide safety information regarding the long-term use of udenafil in adolescents with single ventricle congenital heart disease.

A randomized, blinded, controlled trial to evaluate growth velocity and clinical outcomes in infants with single ventricle physiology fed an exclusive human milk diet prior to, and throughout the post-operative period following, surgical repair. Human milk is defined as expressed human milk or donor milk and its derivatives, human milk-based fortifier and human milk caloric fortifier. The study hypothesis is that infants fed an exclusive human milk diet will have short and long term benefits, with improved wound healing, growth, and neurodevelopmental outcomes while reducing episodes of feeding intolerance and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

The aim is to evaluate the correlation between the respiratory control to hypercapnia at rest and the VE/VCO2 slope measured during cardiopulmonary exercise testing. The hypothesis is that patient with univentricular congenital heart disease have a increasing of respiratory drive like chronic heart failure. This increasing of respiratory drive could participate in the increasing of VE/VCO2 slope measured during cardiopulmonary exercise testing and in the genese of central apnea index during the sleep.