Active clinical trials for "Ventricular Fibrillation"

Ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation (VT/VF) are the most common causes of sudden cardiac death in patients with diseased hearts. The factors contributing to these deadly arrhythmias are not well understood. The presence of a wide variety of microbial flora in the human GI tract, particularly colon has been well recognized for a long time. There are also emerging links showing the effect of an intact gut microbiome having effects on left ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction and hypertension. Gut microbiota has also been associated with outcomes in atrial fibrillation. There is little available in current literature showing a relationship between gut microbiome characteristics and ventricular arrhythmia burden. The gut microbiome has particularly strong interactions with neuroendocrine and immunologic mediators and has effects on the modulation of the autonomic nervous system. These systems are also hypothesized to influence ventricular arrhythmias. The investigators propose to study the relation and interaction between gut microbiome and ventricular arrhythmogenesis.

The aim of this clinical trial is to study the impact of ultra-early transnasal evaporative cooling after cardiac arrest and subsequent hypothermia at hospital, on survival with complete neurologic recovery, compared to currently recommended normothermia. The study population will consist of patients 18-79 years old, with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with initial shockable rhythm. The main research question it aims to answer is whether there is a difference in survival with complete neurologic recovery at 90 days after cardiac arrest between the group of patients that received ultra-early cooling, compared to the group that was treated with normothermia. Participants will be randomized to two groups. One group (the intervention group) will receive ultra-early trans-nasal evaporative cooling initiated by EMS personnel at the scene of the cardiac arrest, and subsequent systemic hypothermia for 24 hours at hospital arrival. The other group (the control group), will receive standard of care (advanced cardiac life support and normal body temperature (normothermia)).

The purpose of this study is to evaluate, in patients presenting with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) by ventricular fibrillation, refractory to 3 external electric shocks, the efficacy of a direct intravenous injection of 20 mmol KCl on their survival at hospital arrival.

This study will assess the feasibility of performing pre-hospital resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) as an adjunct to conventional Advanced Life Support (ALS) in patients suffering from non-traumatic out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). As well as providing valuable insights into the technical feasibility of performing this procedure as part of a resuscitation attempt, the study will also document the beneficial physiological effects of REBOA in this group of patients.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Advanced cardiovascular imaging using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has proven to be effective in providing gold standard myocardial tissue characterization. Moreover, the intrinsic advantage of MRI's lack of exposure to ionizing radiation is particularly beneficial. At the same time, blood work can be very useful in early detection of certain cardiomyopathy, such as amyloid. However, there is a lack of agreement of on which markers are the most sensitive. This multi-study will allow us the unique opportunity to form a more comprehensive understanding for various cardiovascular diseases. Our team has developed novel cardiac MRI techniques that leverages endogenous tissue properties to reveal a milieu of deep tissue phenotypes including myocardial inflammation, fibrosis, metabolism, and microstructural defects. Among these phenotypes, myocardial microstructure has proven to be most sensitive to early myocardial tissue damage and is predictive of myocardial regeneration. In this study, the investigators aim to further study the importance of cardiac microstructure revealed by MRI in patient and healthy population and compare this novel technology with conventional clinical biomarkers.

Management of cardiac arrest according to published guidelines has remained largely unchanged for a decade. Thames Valley Air Ambulance provide Critical Care Paramedic and Physician teams who respond to cardiac arrests and offer treatments beyond the scope of ambulance service clinicians. Following a review of practice and appraisal of evidence the investigators developed an additional algorithm for cases of adult medical cardiac arrest with refractory shockable rhythms. This adds to but does not replace the Advanced Life Support algorithm and includes: Delivering shocks with the LUCAS mechanical CPR device running After 5 shocks have been delivered placing new pads in the Anterior Posterior (AP) position Delivering shocks using the TVAA Tempus Pro defibrillator rather than the Ambulance Service defibrillator. This bundle was based on recommendations from ILCOR and the Resus Council (UK) Advanced Life Support manual and was launched in October 2021.

A prospective uncontrolled study to verify the feasibility and practicability of percutaneous stellate ganglion block (PSGB) in patient suffering from a refractory out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) due to a shockable rhythm and the eventual occurrence of complication related to it. The study will also assess whether the rate of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) until admission and transfer of care to the receiving hospital is higher in the patients treated with PSGB as compared to historical controls.

This study aims to evaluate the electrophysiological properties of the heart conduction system in patients with (increased risk of) ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VTA) and sudden cardiac arrest, and in a control cohort. The electrophysiological properties will be measured with the relatively new technique ECG-Imaging (ECGI). Moreover, clinical data of subjects will be gathered. By combining the data from the data gathering and the results of ECGI, the investigators hope to increase mechanistic understanding of and risk stratification for VTAs. The investigators aim to be able to identify patients at risk of an arrhythmic event, and aim for better treatment strategies in the future.

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) are currently recommended (ESC guidelines 2015) for the primary prevention of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in patients with a remote myocardial infarction (MI) and a low (≤35%) left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Ventricular tachycardia (VT) and/or ventricular fibrillation (VF), which are responsible for most SCDs, result from the presence of surviving myocytes embedded within fibrotic MI-scar. The presence of these surviving myocytes, as well as their specific arrhythmic characteristics, is not captured by LVEF. Consequently, most patients with a prophylactic ICD do not present VT/VF requiring ICD therapy prior to their first-ICD battery depletion. Thus, many patients are exposed to ICD complications, such as inappropriate shocks, without deriving any health benefit. As a consequence, the current implantation strategy of prophylactic ICDs, based on LVEF, needs to be improved in post-MI patients. Stratification of the rhythmic risk after IDM is therefore still a major public health issue. Late gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance (LGE-MRI) is a strong risk-stratifier of VT/VF risk in post- MI patients. In a recent multicenter retrospective study, the investigators showed that the presence of a critical surface of intramural scar (which is consequently neither epicardial nor endocardial) at the infarct border (measured by LGE-MRI) has a major association with the occurrence of VT/VF in post-MI patients with a LVEF≤35%. The aim of the TVScreen 2 study is therefore to validate the relevance of the MRI criterion in a new independent cohort of patients.

AMSA trial is a multicenter, randomized, controlled study in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients. The purpose of the study is to test the hypothesis that a real time AMSA analysis during CPR may predict the success of defibrillation and optimize the timing of defibrillation delivery. The primary end-point is the efficacy of the AMSA-CPR: termination of VF/VT with achievement of ROSC for an AMSA ≥ 15.5 mV-Hz All patients meeting inclusion/exclusion criteria and receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation are randomized into two groups: AMSA-guided CPR or standard CPR. In the AMSA-CPR group, AMSA value suggests when the rescuer should deliver the defibrillation attempt; In the Standard-CPR group, the defibrillation is delivered based on the 2015 European Resuscitation Council (ERC) CPR guidelines.