Clinical Research Directory

BIOmarker Based Diagnostic TOOLkit to Personalise Pharmacological Approaches in Congestive Heart Failure: the BIOTOOL-CHF Validation Trial

By the re-analysis, in the BIOTOOL-CHF DISCO study, of a previously enrolled cohort of patients, a Biological Congestion Score (BCS) was newly developed. The BCS integrates four congestion-related biomarkers with key clinical variables. The BIOTOOL-CHF VALID trial is designed to prospectively evaluate whether a BCS-assisted strategy for diuretic management improves clinical outcomes and quality of life in patients with chronic Heart Failure (HF) compared with standard care.

Pedal Pump Clinical Trial on Edema V1

Previous research on the osteopathic manual technique entitled "Pedal Pump" has shown health benefits, specifically increasing lymphatic flow, decreasing lower extremity edema, and decreasing serum lactic acid after maximal exercise. However, due to the limitation of human practitioners, research has been limited. The Pedal Pump is now a device which facilitates consistency in treatment and allows for increased sample size in research. This clinical trial studies the effects of 10 minutes of Pedal Pump treatment for hospitalized patients with lower extremity edema. Key Question for this first study: Is the Pedal Pump a feasible treatment for hospitalized patients? Secondary question: Does the Pedal Pump decrease lower extremity edema? This is a novel idea in its early stage of development, so Investigators anticipate product advancements, further testing with larger population sizes, and future publications.

Evaluating the Use of Prehospital Lung Ultrasound in EMS: A Multicenter Pilot Study

The goal of this prospective nonrandomized study is to determine if prehospital lung ultrasound findings result in a change in patient management. This study will look at how lung ultrasound exam improves diagnosis of respiratory distress in patients being treated by Emergency Medical Services, such as patients with heart failure. Additional questions include: * How well can paramedics obtain and interpret ultrasound images? * How does ultrasound use change treatment received by patients? * How does ultrasound use impact patient outcomes? Participants will receive a lung ultrasound exam, but otherwise receive standard evaluation and care. Patients who receive ultrasound will be compared to those who did not receive ultrasound for logistical reasons and patients from before the use of ultrasound. Ultrasound will not be withheld from any patient for the purposes of the study.

Palliative Care for People With HF

Imagine having heart failure, a condition where the heart struggles to pump blood, making daily life hard. People with heart failure often don't feel well and end up going to the hospital a lot. Many of these people could feel better with extra help, but there aren't many programs that offer support beyond usual heart failure treatments. That's where the ADAPT program comes in, which stands for "Advancing Symptom Alleviation with Palliative Treatment." In this program, nurses and social workers call people weekly, helping them manage their toughest symptoms, offering tools to cope with heart failure, and keeping the patients' current doctors involved. We tested this program in a research study with heart failure patients and found that it improved their quality of life and lowered depression, anxiety, and heart failure symptoms. The question now is if the ADAPT program will work in the community, outside of a research setting, so that more people could benefit from it. Specifically, can the ADAPT program work well in new places? Will patients and their families find it helpful? Most importantly, can it help improve the lives of people with heart failure in these new settings? To answer these questions, the study team will work with healthcare providers to 1) ask how to adjust the ADAPT program to work well in various settings (e.g. primary care, heart failure clinic) and 2) use this information to create simple materials and trainings to help them easily provide ADAPT. This will prepare for the next phase of this project to test out the new ADAPT program.

BIOmarker Based Diagnostic TOOLkit to Personalize Pharmacological Approaches in Congestive Heart Failure

This retrospective study will take advantage of an existing EU-funded dataset, the BIOlogy Study to TAilored Treatment in Chronic Heart Failure (BIOSTAT-CHF), which was designed to identify biomarkers related to the response to guideline directed medical therapy, and coordinated by UMCG. The availability of this comprehensive dataset of patients with severe HFrEF, prospectively and consistently collected, with the possibility to access a biobank to re-assay samples with novel biomarkers, provides a unique opportunity to derive preliminary data about the interaction between biomarkers of congestion and diuretic doses, that were prescribed based on clinical judgement, and therefore derive a machine learning-based algorithm than could be tested to guide the management of diuretic therapy

DRAIN: DRainage in Acute Decompensated Heart faIlure With Pleural effusioNs

The goal of this study is to assess if removal of fluid around the lungs (pleural effusion) by a routine procedure called as thoracentesis is helpful to decrease shortness of breath in hospitalized patients with congestive heart failure and have pleural effusion. Researchers will compare thoracentesis with medical therapy to medical therapy alone to see if one treatment is superior to the other treatment in relieving shortness of breath. Participants will : 1. Receive medical therapy with or without thoracentesis 2. Record degree of shortness of breath and quality of life before and after the intervention using predefined standard scales. 3. Telephonic call for 15- 30 mins at day 14 and 30 after enrollment to assess shortness of breath and quality of life

Observational Study of Patients Undergoing Diagnostic Right Heart Catheterization

The objective of this observational pilot study is to collect HemoCept device data from subjects undergoing diagnostic right heart catheterization (RHC) procedures.

Social Prescribing to Improve Adherence and Outcomes in Women With Heart Failure

Background: Heart Failure (HF) is the second most common cause of hospitalizations for women in North America. Non-adherence to guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) is associated with 50% of all treatment failures and high rates of hospitalizations and death. A recent Canadian study showed that adherence to three or more GDMT medications occurred in only 20% of Canadian HF patients. Despite clear guidelines on the pharmacologic management of HF and the introduction of new and effective drugs, adherence to GDMT in women with HF is low. Furthermore, the rates of hospitalizations have not improved in Canada over the last decade, and mortality in Canadian women with HF remains high. One explanation may be that social determinants of health (SDOH), which are known to be strong predictors of both adherence and adverse outcomes in HF, have not specifically been targeted to improve either adherence or outcomes in HF. Social prescribing (SP) is an innovative, non-medical intervention that aims to improve health by addressing SDOH. However, whether using SP to LINK clinical and social services for the benefit of socially vulnerable HF women can improve outcome is unknown. By targeting SDOH, which are strong predictors of adherence and outcomes in HF, and which have been shown to disproportionately disfavor women, SP has the potential to significantly improve medication adherence, quality of life and outcomes in women with HF. Objectives: The overall aim of this study is to assess whether SP, through individualized, SDOH-targeted interventions, can improve adherence and quality of life in Canadian women with HF and at high risk for no adherence. Primary objective: To determine whether SP can improve adherence to GDMT. Secondary objective: To determine whether SP can improve quality of life. Methods: This is an intention to treat, multicenter (five centers), and open-labeled, randomized clinical trial. Women with HF with two or more points on a weighted SDOH questionnaire (SPARK tool) will be randomly assigned to either SP or control group. Women in the SP group will meet with a link worker (LW) who will perform SP. SP will consist of personalized referrals to non-medical supports or services based on women's specific SDOH-related vulnerabilities and social needs. SP will address social needs such as issues with income, unemployment, transportation, mobility, dependents, housing, loneliness, mental health, health literacy, medication management and medical appointment schedules. Social prescriptions will be based on the interview conducted by the LW and will prioritize SDOH-related vulnerabilities identified on the SPARK questionnaire. Participants in the control group will receive standard care as is typically offered in the current specialized HF clinic in the participating centers. Controls will not meet with a LW, but, as usual, their physician or treating team may refer them to any specialists or services deemed necessary. Outcome measures: The primary outcome will be adherence to GDMT measured with PDC obtained from provincial administrative databases and the secondary outcome will be quality of life measures including physical limitations, social limitations, as measured with the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ-12). Sample size Calculations: The sample size was calculated using the primary outcome of adherence to GDMT measured with PDC as a continuous variable. In one observational study on adherence to HF medications which compared women and males adherence using PDCs, adherence in women was 63% with a SD of 23%. The impact of an absolute increase of 10% in PDC on clinical end points was considered significant. Using an alpha of 0.05 and a power of 0.80, a minimum of 166 participants would be needed to detect a statistically significant difference. Based on pilot data, the proportion of women followed in heart failure clinics is 28% and the proportion of eligible women (i.e. 1 point or more on the SPARK questionnaire) is about 30%. Considering a 30% refusal rate and a 5% dropout rate (intention to treat with registry based outcome), the five chosen centers should totalize 188 participants. The secondary outcome, the KCCQ, is a continuous variable for which a change of five points or more (5%) is considered clinically significant. Using an alpha of 0.05 and a power of 0.80, 126 patients would be required to detect such a difference. Significance: SP holds immense potential for women with HF by addressing critical gaps in care. SP may help bridge the gap between healthcare providers and community resources, providing tailored support addressing SDOH that disproportionately affect women with HF. SP has the potential to significantly enhance adherence to GDMT, which has been shown to greatly, reduce hospitalizations and mortality in this vulnerable population.

Ketone and Hawthorn Extract Supplementation in Congestive Heart Failure

The purpose of this research is to gain a better understanding of whether supplements can improve heart health. There are a number of study procedures and tests that will occur as a part of the research study. There are 3 groups or arms in the study: one group will receive a ketone supplement, one group will receive hawthorn and a third group will receive a placebo that does not contain ketones or hawthorn. The purpose of the study is to learn whether these supplements improve heart heath in patients who have congestive heart failure. Participants will not know which supplement is received. The study doctor will know. This is called a single blind study. The supplements will provided along with instructions and educational materials. The duration of taking the supplements is approximately 8 weeks and full participation in the study is approximately 3 months. Participants with congestive heart failure will be enrolled through Jefferson Health in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Evaluating Residual Congestion at Discharge in Acute Heart Failure Patients

Treatment of congestion is one of the main goals in patients hospitalized for acute heart failure. Nevertheless, current evidence shows that decongestion is often not achieved and that residual congestion at discharge is strongly associated with poor outcomes. While this association has been demonstrated, previous studies have primarily focused on single parameters of congestion (physical examination, biomarkers, or imaging features). The aim of the study is to assess residual congestion at discharge using a multiparametric approach and to compare the prognostic value of each evaluation strategy. Additionally, the analysis will be supported by artificial intelligence to develop a multiparametric prognostic algorithm that can provide an improved predictive model compared to standard statistical approaches.