Clinical Research Directory

How Institutional Guidelines for Urgent Inpatient Surgeries Affect Intensity of Perioperative Cardiovascular Testing

This study will evaluate the impact of implementing an educational clinical decision support (CDS) tool designed to guide perioperative cardiovascular evaluation for adults undergoing urgent inpatient surgery. The CDS tool, integrated within the Epic electronic health record via AgileMD, provides evidence-informed recommendations regarding perioperative cardiac testing and specialty consultation based on American Heart Association guidance and multidisciplinary institutional consensus. The investigators will conduct a retrospective and prospective pre-post observational cohort study comparing perioperative cardiovascular testing intensity, consultation patterns, time to operating room, and clinical outcomes before and after implementation of the tool among adult patients admitted through the emergency department at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center who undergo urgent surgery. Data will be obtained from the Core for Clinical Research Data Acquisition (CCDA) and Epic electronic health record, with case-level chart review performed as needed to validate rare outcomes such as major adverse cardiac events.

Prognostic Accuracy of the HEART Score in Undifferentiated Chest Pain: A Multicenter Validation Study

Chest pain remains one of the most common, potentially serious presenting complaints for adults emergency department visits with approximately 7.6 million yearly visits in the united states. The priority for emergency physician is to determine whether these patients with acute chest pain have a potential life threatening underlying etiology. The great challenge is to differentiate patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome and those with other more benign conditions. There is a global tendency for ED physician to over investigate chest pain patients , even in low-risk patients. This kind of practice leads to resource over-utilization and a huge health costs waste contrasting with no outcomes improvement. For many years, physicians have been searching tools, ranging from specific diagnostic tests to entire strategies of evaluation, to appropriately stratify the risk in patients with chest pain in order to simultaneously prevent major adverse cardiac events and reduce unnecessary testing and hospitalizations. Many bioclinical scores have been developed, such as the TIMI score and the GRACE score.The HEART score is one of the more recently proposed model derived through a process involving expert opinion and review of medical literature. It is calculated based on admission data of medical history, EKG, age, cardiovascular risk factors and troponin levels. The HEART score was created specifically to identify ED patients presenting with undifferentiated chest pain who were at low risk as well as patients at high risk of short-term MACE occurrence. HEART score has been widely reported to outperform the TIMI and the GRACE scores. Several scientific societies are encouraging the use of HEART score, for evaluating patients with chest pain suggestive of ACS in the ED. The goal of our investigation is to validate HEART score as a prognostication tool among ED patients with chest pain in teaching hospitals in Tunisia.

Predictive Value of Systolic Rise Time of the Plantar Arch on the Risk of Major Adverse Limb Events (MALE) and Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events (MACE) in Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) at Critical Ischaemia Stage

Peripheral artery disease (PAD), vascular disease of atheromatous origin, is a frequent pathology, with a steady and significant increase in prevalence over the last decades. It has various symptoms ranging from mild arterial claudication to critical limb ischemia. The critical ischaemia stage in PAD is defined by rest pain or trophic disorders and is a special situation because of the number of cardiovascular deaths at 1 year (25%), 60% at 5 years and acute ischaemic recurrence at 1 year (25%). It is a medico-surgical pathology. A haemodynamic marker is needed to monitor patients, as it is predictive of limb progression, cardiovascular events and mortality. The Systolic Rise Time (SRT) of the plantar footpad is a recently described haemodynamic measurement of proven value in the diagnosis of PAD. The aim of this study is to show the prognostic value of the Systolic Rise Time on Major Adverse Limb Events (MALE).

Prediction of LVAR and MACE in STEMI Though Plasma Multiomics Analysis

To identify plasma multi-omics biomarkers that predict left ventricular adverse remodeling (LVAR) and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, and to investigate the molecular pathways linked to LVAR and MACE.

Total Arterial vs. Mixed Grafting in Left Coronary CABG

This is a prospective, randomized, double-blind controlled trial comparing the clinical efficacy of total arterial grafting (internal thoracic artery and radial artery) versus conventional mixed grafting (internal thoracic artery and great saphenous vein) in the left coronary artery system during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). A total of 400 patients undergoing elective CABG at the Second Hospital of Jilin University will be enrolled and randomized into two groups. The primary endpoint is graft patency at 12 months postoperatively, evaluated by coronary angiography or CT angiography. Secondary outcomes include perioperative complications, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), and long-term clinical prognosis. The study aims to provide evidence-based guidance on optimal graft selection in CABG.

CCTA Improves Clinical Management of Stable Chest Pain

The investigator aims to prospectively enroll patients who were referred for coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) for the assessment of stable chest pain (SCP) suspected of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). All patients underwent CCTA according to established guidelines and local institutional protocols. The imaging data were evaluated using different image post-processing software to comprehensively analyse anatomical, functional and histological information of coronary. This study will determine if CCTA-based imaging evaluation can provide more informaton to improve clinical management for SCP, including fewer MACE and better decision-making of downstream investigations and therapeutic interventions.