Clinical Research Directory

Home Exercise And Resiliency Training (Heart) Club

The purpose of this research study is to evaluate the impact of a telemedicine-based structured home exercise program on frailty and exercise capacity in individuals with Fontan heart physiology, demonstrate that a telemedicine exercise program reduces socioeconomic and geographic barriers to access to exercise training, and to explore the impact of a structured exercise program on markers of Fontan-associated liver disease.

WE BEAT - HEART Club Fontan Wellness Project: A Virtual Resilience Promotion and Frailty Prevention Program

This trial is being conducted to evaluate the effect of a small-group wellness education program combined with a longitudinal, individualized prescription exercise program on the wellness, resiliency, and daily activity levels of pediatric patients with Fontan physiology. There will be two phases for this project. The first phase is the "WE BEAT Group Wellness Education Program" and participants will be transitioned into the phase two HEART Club following phase one. The trial will look at feasibility and acceptability of the program. Additional hypothesis include home whether exercise interventions can: * be delivered without any associated serious cardiac events; * will result in a decreased proportion of patients who are categorized as frail when compared to the cohort's pre-test baseline. * will result in increased measured peak oxygen consumption when compared with their pre-intervention baseline. * will result in increased step counts measured monthly from baseline to end of intervention * will improve self-reported quality of life from baseline to post-intervention. * will result in increased patient reported activity level from baseline to post-intervention

Blood Based Assessment of sST2, Taken During and After Surgery, for Pediatric Patients With Heart Defects to Predict Heart Failure.

Patients younger than 18 scheduled for congenital heart surgery will be assessed during and post-operatively as well as at the first follow-up after 9-12 month for the novel biomarker sST2. We will assess the marker independently and in evaluation with other blood biomarkers to evaluate sings of heart failure. Compared to established biomarkers, sST2 promises thereby to be less variable to factors like age or acute kidney injury, rendering it potentially more reliable in the field of congenital cardiac surgery.