Clinical Research Directory

Repurposing Tilmanocept for Cardiac Sarcoidosis

The purpose of this study is to see if Tc 99m Tilmanocept SPECT/CT imaging can be used to identify cardiac sarcoidosis.

A Trial of Baricitinib in Patients With Cardiac Sarcoidosis

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if baricitinib in combination with a background steroid-sparing medication can treat active cardiac sarcoidosis in adults. The main question it aims to answer is: \- In patients with active cardiac sarcoidosis, does treatment with baricitinib improve cardiac sarcoidosis disease activity as assessed by changes on cardiac FDG-PET/CT? Participants will: * Take baricitinib in combination with a steroid-sparing therapy for up to 16 weeks * Visit the clinic every two to four weeks for checkups and tests * Be asked to complete questionnaires to see how they feel on baricitinib and medication diaries to record when they take baricitinib

Precision Diagnosis and Risk Stratification of Rare Cardiomyopathies Based on Novel Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Techniques

What is this study about? This research is focused on improving the care for people with rare heart muscle diseases, known as rare cardiomyopathies. These are uncommon conditions where the heart muscle becomes stiff, thick, or enlarged, making it harder for the heart to pump blood. Because they are rare, they can be difficult to diagnose and manage. The investigators are testing new, advanced ways of using a heart scan called a Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR). Participants can think of a CMR as a very powerful camera that takes detailed pictures of their heart without using radiation. What is the study trying to learn? Better Diagnosis: The investigators want to see if these new scanning techniques can help us identify these rare heart conditions more clearly and accurately. This means patients could get a correct diagnosis sooner. Personalized Risk Assessment: The investigators want to see if the scan can help us understand the future risk for each patient better. For example, can it help predict which patients are more likely to have a heart rhythm problem or need specific treatments? This helps doctors create a care plan that is tailored just for participants. What does this mean for participants? If participants choose to take part, they will undergo a CMR scan that uses these new techniques. By participating, they will be helping us find better ways to diagnose and care for people with their condition in the future. The goal is to turn uncertainty into clearer, more personalized information for patients and families.

Diagnostic Utility of SGLT1/2 Inhibition to Facilitate Myocardial Glucose Suppression

This is a pilot mechanistic study of the diagnostic utility of sodium-glucose cotransporter-1/2 inhibition (SGLT1/2) on myocardial glucose suppression on FDG PET/CT. The investigators will test whether the addition of a SGLT1/2 inhibitor (SGLT1/2i) plus the standard dietary modification (ketogenic diet) will provide enhanced myocardial glucose suppression. The primary objective is to assess rates of complete myocardial glucose suppression (MGS) with 7 days of sotagliflozin 400 mg QD among healthy volunteers on a background of 1 day (N=20) or 3 days (N=20) of the KD. The secondary goal is to investigate the relationship between sotagliflozin, targeted metabolite levels, and myocardial glucose utilization on FDG-PET. Participants will be asked to: * undergo a screening visit that includes blood tests, vitals, and questions regarding health history/medications * take the provided sotagliflozin as instructed for 7 days leading up to the scan * follow a ketogenic diet as instructed for 1 or 3 days leading up to the scan * undergo an FDG PET/CT scan, which includes vitals and blood draws

Cardiomyopathies and Heart Muscle Diseases: Cardiac Imaging in the Evaluation of Myocardial Fibrosis Transition

Heart scarring, also known as fibrosis, plays a major role in a lot of heart muscle abnormalities. These abnormalities of the heart muscle can lead to major issues such as symptoms of heart failure, dangerous heart rhythm disturbances and even death. However, a lot of these conditions are still not fully understood and treatment options are limited. We here aim to use a new radioactive dye called 68Ga-FAPI to identify patterns and the activity of heart muscle scarring. This radioactive dye is being used in humans particularly in identifying and monitoring cancers and has shown promise in identifying scarring in the heart as well. This will help us not only understand the underlying disease process and risk stratify these patients but also potentially help us develop new targeted therapies that can affect heart muscle scarring. Participants will undergo a baseline MRI scan using this new dye and a plain MRI scan will repeated 12-18 months after to see if there are any changes in the process.

Rilonacept in Subjects With Cardiac Sarcoidosis

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of rilonacept, added to standard therapy and compared with standard therapy alone, on improvement in myocardial inflammation in subjects with cardiac sarcoidosis after 24 weeks of therapy.

Evaluation of the Impact of a Patient Education Protocol on the Quality of 18F-FDG PET Imaging Indicated for Investigation of Cardiac Inflammation

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of implementing a patient education and preparation protocol for FDG PET (18F-FDG PET) imaging on the quality of imaging results. 18F-FDG (18Fluor-FluoroDesoxyGlucose) PET (Positron Emission Tomography) is indicated for the diagnosis of cardiac inflammation. To detect cardiac inflammation, the myocardium (heart muscle) must be prevented from absorbing glucose from the diet (FDG). To achieve this, patient preparation is essential. Poor preparation can compromise the interpretation of results, causing diagnostic delay. To answer the research question, the investigators plan to include 138 people with suspected infective endocarditis or cardiac sarcoidosis, in two institutions of the Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris: Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou and Hôpital Cochin-Port-Royal, located respectively at 20 rue Leblanc 75015 Paris and 27 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques 75014 Paris.

Evaluation of the Prognostic Value of PET/MRI in Cardiac Sarcoidosis

Cardiac damage is the second leading cause of death in patients with sarcoidosis, after lung damage. Today's challenge is to diagnose the disease as effectively as possible, and to develop tools for better risk stratification, especially for sudden death, in order to better target therapies and implantable devices, such as corticoids and immunosuppressant. The hypothesis is that combined PET (Positron Emission Tomography)/MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) could be a relevant prognostic marker of progression, and would significantly improve diagnostic performance in patients with suspected cardiac sarcoidosis (CS). This study will also make it possible to distinguish sequellar fibrosis lesions from granulomatous lesions and assess the therapeutic response. Incorporating PET/MRI into the diagnostic strategy for patients with suspected CS could therefore improve their management.

Mayo AVC Registry and Biobank

Arrhythmogenic ventricular cardiomyopathy (AVC) is a genetic condition which affects the heart and can lead to heart failure and rhythm problems, of which, sudden cardiac arrest or death is the most tragic and dangerous. Diagnosis and screening of blood-relatives is very difficult as the disease process can be subtle, but sufficient enough, so that the first event is sudden death. The Mayo Clinic AVC Registry is a collaboration between Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA and Papworth Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals, Cambridge, UK. The investigators aim to enroll patients with a history of AVC or sudden cardiac death which may be due to AVC, from the US and UK. Family members who are blood-relatives will also be invited, including those who do not have the condition. Data collected include symptoms, ECG, echocardiographic, MRI, Holter, loop recorder, biopsies, exercise stress testing, blood, buccal and saliva samples. Objectives of the study: 1. Discover new genes or altered genes (variants) which cause AVC 2. Identify biomarkers which predict (2a) disease onset, (2b) disease progression, (2c) and the likelihood of arrhythmia (ventricular, supra-ventricular and atrial fibrillation) 3. Correlate genotype with phenotype in confirmed cases of AVC followed longitudinally using clinical, electrocardiographic and imaging data. 4. Characterize desmosomal changes in buccal mucosal cells with genotype and validate with gold-standard endomyocardial biopsies

[68Ga]Ga-PentixaFor PET/CT in Acute Myocardial Inflammation

Acute myocardial inflammation is an heterogenic syndrome involving different clinical pathologies with different outcome. For the purpose of this study protocol, we focuse on three entities of this syndrome, namely the acute cellular cardiac allograft rejection (ACR), cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) and the immune checkpoint inhibitor induced myocarditis (ICIM), for which non-invasive diagnosis remains challenging. Since accurate diagnosis of myocardial inflammation in an early stage is crucial, this study aims to investigate the accuracy of \[68Ga\]Ga-PentixaFor as a marker of for the presence of inflammatory cells (T-lymphocytes and M1) in described patients. The identification of a correlation between \[68Ga\]Ga-PentixaFor myocardial accumulation with currently accepted diagnostic tools would open up new ways to non-invasively diagnose acute myocardial inflammation.

Cardiac Sarcoidosis Randomized Trial

Prospective randomized controlled trial comparing low dose Prednisone(or Prednisolone)/Methotrexate combination to standard dose Prednisone(or Prednisolone) in patients diagnosed with acute active clinically manifest cardiac sarcoidosis and not yet treated. The Investigators hypothesize that low dose Prednisone(or Prednisolone)/Methotrexate combination will be as effective as standard dose Prednisone(or Prednisolone), and result in significantly better quality of life and less toxicity than standard dose Prednisone(or Prednisolone).

Inflammatory Cardiomyopathy Bern Registry

Inflammatory cardiomyopathies are associated with inflammation and impaired function of the heart muscle and encompass myo- and pericarditis and cardiac sarcoidosis. Due to the heterogeneity of the clinical manifestations, establishing the diagnosis and prediction of outcome is challenging. Specifically for myocarditis, it is associated with acute and chronic heart failure and sudden cardiac death. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) allows imaging of tissue characteristics (i.e. edema and fibrosis). CMR is the primary diagnostic tool in myocarditis and can also be used for differentiating other inflammatory diseases. Beside the presence of edema, also hyperemia/capillary leak, fibrosis and myocardial function can be assessed and quantified. Previous studies demonstrated the prognostic role of CMR features beyond traditional markers of LV function, but are limited to smaller cohorts and single-center studies. Furthermore, CMR is a rapidly developing modality and as new features of the modality become available, additional research is needed to identify which combination of parameters optimize risk stratification of this heterogenous inflammatory cardiomyopathy. Hence, the goal of the registry is to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic role of clinical techniques in inflammatory cardiomyopathies, particularly CMR, and which combination of features provide the highest potential. This analysis will include new advanced CMR techniques but will also assess the role of other techniques that may be more cost-efficient and more widely available, which could be used as a precursor to CMR imaging exams.

Cardiac Sarcoidosis Multi-Center Prospective Cohort

Recent data has shown that sarcoidosis, presenting initially with cardiac manifestations (CS) of either conduction system disease or cardiomyopathy and sustained VT, is not uncommon. A Canadian physician survey found that most physicians do not investigate for CS as a possibility in these situations. Thus many patients with clinically important CS are going un-diagnosed. A study from Finland showed that missing the diagnosis of CS in these patients' leads to significant mortality and morbidity. There are no published clinical consensus guidelines on treatment of CS. Corticosteroid therapy is advocated by most experts. This is based on very modest data from small retrospective observational studies using variable definitions of clinical response. The effect of corticosteroid treatment on the clinical course of CS has not been studied in prospective studies and will be one of the aims of this project. Recent physician surveys regarding CS, in Canada and the US, found that current clinical practice varies widely. The 2008 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association/Heart Rhythm society guidelines recommend implantation of a defibrillator (Class IIa recommendation) to prevent sudden cardiac death. The most recent Canadian device therapy guidelines do not mention CS. A multi-center collaborative approach to study CS is greatly needed." The investigators propose exactly that i.e. a multi-center prospective cohort to start to answer clinical questions. The investigators have formed the CANADIAN CARDIAC SARCOIDOSIS RESEARCH GROUP. The group includes respirologists with an interest in sarcoidosis, cardiac electrophysiologists, cardiac imaging specialists with extensive experience in imaging of sarcoidosis and biostatisticians. The research will be in two phases; a registry of current diagnostic approaches, treatment and prognosis, and a randomized clinical trial of the effect of corticosteroid treatment on the clinical course of cardiac sarcoidosis.

Macrophage PET/CT Imaging Using 64Cu-DOTATATE for the Diagnosis of Cardiac Sarcoidosis

The purpose of the CuDOSIS study is to examine the diagnostic value of activated macrophage imaging in patients with or under evaluation for cardiac sarcoidosis. The PET/CT tracer 64Cu-DOTATATE is used as a tool to identify activated macrophages. The trial is an open-label prospective study. The study will include 54 participants from the Department of Cardiology and the Department of Clinical Physiology, Nuclear Medicine, and PET at Rigshospitalet. Further, the study will include data from 22 patients with NET who have been scanned with 64Cu-DOTATATE PET/CT previously as negative controls. Participants will be included in the following groups: Group A: 22 patients with clinically suspected cardiac sarcoidosis Group B: 22 patients with known cardiac sarcoidosis Group C: Up to 10 patients with clinically suspected or confirmed acute lymphocytic myocarditis Group D: 22 patients with NET without known inflammatory heart disease who have previously been scanned with 64Cu-DOTATATE PET/CT as part of their routine diagnostic work-up or follow-up (control group)

Diagnostic Criteria in Cardiac Sarcoidosis

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the accuracy of the current diagnostic criteria of cardiac sarcoidosis.

Biomaterial Collection - and Analysis in Cardiac Sarcoidosis

Cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) is a complex disease that is characterized by the formation of inflammatory granulomas in the myocardium. The exact underlying pathophysiology of the disease is not yet fully understood, but it is believed to be related to dysregulation of the immune system. Despite significant progress in recent years, the disease remains difficult to diagnose, and there is a high risk of severe complications such as life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, severe heart failure, and sudden cardiac death in affected patients. Moreover, the clinical presentation of CS can be similar to other inflammatory heart diseases or familial cardiomyopathies. Thus, it is challenging to differentiate between these diseases, which can lead to a delayed diagnosis and poor prognosis. It is unclear whether certain genetic variants play a role in the clinical course and prognosis of CS, which highlights the need for more research in this area. The diagnosis of CS requires cardiac or extracardiac biopsy with granuloma detection, which is an invasive and complex procedure. Consequently, the disease is thought to be underdiagnosed, and many affected patients may not receive timely treatment, resulting in excess mortality. Early diagnosis and immunosuppressive treatment, as well as defibrillator implantation if necessary, are crucial in delaying disease progression, preventing complications, and improving prognosis. To better understand the key molecular pathological mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of CS, a prospective, multicenter, exploratory study has been initiated. The project involves the collection, storage, and analysis of biological samples from blood, myocardium, and lymph nodes of patients with cardiac sarcoidosis or cardiomyopathies that present clinically and image morphologically similar. The samples will be used for scientific investigations on disease mechanisms of cardiomyopathies as well as for identification of new biomarkers in cardiomyopathy diagnostics and for follow-up of therapeutic measures. The study will employ a range of classical biochemical methods such as ELISA, RIA, as well as more modern methods of molecular biology (single cell sequencing, single nucleus sequencing) and systems biology (genomics, metabolomics, or proteomics) to identify key molecular pathological mechanisms in the development and maintenance of CS. In addition, genetic analysis will be performed to investigate cardiomyopathy- and ion channel-associated genetic variants, which is critical for improving diagnostics and early, individualized therapy. The study will be conducted on a multicenter basis, with the Heart Center Leipzig serving as the initiator and lead center and the University Hospital Leipzig as the second study center. Biochemical and molecular biological analyses will be performed on behalf of the study management at the Heart Center Leipzig, the University Hospital Leipzig, and the Erich and Hanna Klessmann Institute for Cardiovascular Research and Development of the Heart and Diabetes Center NRW and Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin. In conclusion, CS is a complex and challenging disease that requires further research to better understand its underlying mechanisms and improve diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. The prospective, multicenter, exploratory study will provide valuable insights into the disease's key molecular pathological mechanisms and identify new biomarkers for better diagnostics and individualized therapy.