Clinical Research Directory

Sodium Lowering Vascular Effects Trial

The proposed mechanistic trial will test the effect of dietary sodium reduction on cardiac and vascular structure and function in those with elevated blood pressure or hypertension. Findings from this study will fill the knowledge gap on the underlying mechanisms of dietary sodium intake on cardiovascular disease risk in addition to blood pressure and could provide further evidence on sodium reduction for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Can Exercise Electrocardiography Discriminate Hypertensive Heart Disease From Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease? A Multimodality Imaging Study

To evaluate the ability of exercise ECG to discriminate between hypertensive heart disease-related and CAD-related abnormalities

Detection of Cardiac Amyloidosis Using Right Ventricular Sensing Amplitude in Patients With Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

This multicenter prospective study aims to evaluate the diagnostic performance of right ventricular sensing amplitude measured during cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) implantation (pacemaker or defibrillator) to identify cardiac amyloidosis in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy and conduction abnormalities. Patients aged 65 years or older referred for CIED implantation will be included. During the procedure, electrophysiological parameters will be recorded. Additional assessments will be performed, including cardiac scintigraphy, biological analyses, and subcutaneous adipose tissue biopsy. The results of these investigations will be used to confirm or rule out cardiac amyloidosis. Diagnostic performance will be assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC).

Angiotensin Receptor Blocker After TAVR in Severe Aortic Stenosis With Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (ARBITAR)

This is a multicenter, prospective, open-label, randomized, investigator-initiated trial evaluating whether angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) therapy improves clinical outcomes in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) who have undergone transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Severe AS imposes chronic pressure overload on the left ventricle, leading to LVH as a compensatory response. While initially adaptive, sustained LVH promotes myocardial fibrosis, reduced ventricular compliance, and impaired cardiac function. LVH that persists after valve replacement is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, including a higher risk of heart failure. Blockade of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) or ARBs has been proposed as a strategy to attenuate adverse left ventricular remodeling after valve replacement by inhibiting angiotensin II-mediated hypertrophic and fibrotic signaling. However, evidence in TAVR patients with LVH remains limited, and a small randomized trial of an ACEi reported drug discontinuation in approximately 10% of patients due to dry cough. The ARBITAR trial therefore evaluates the clinical efficacy of an ARB in this population. A total of 632 patients with symptomatic severe AS and LVH who have successfully undergone TAVR within the prior 30 days will be randomized 1:1 to receive an ARB (experimental group) or no ARB (control group), stratified by site and sex. Assigned treatment is continued for up to 24 months, with follow-up visits at 1, 6, 12, and 24 months. In the experimental group, the ARB (candesartan, losartan, or valsartan) is up-titrated toward a target dose. ACE inhibitors, direct renin inhibitors, and angiotensin receptor/neprilysin inhibitors are prohibited in both groups. The primary endpoint is the composite of all-cause death or admission for heart failure over 2 years. Secondary endpoints include the individual components of the primary endpoint and other clinical events, as well as echocardiographic measures, NT-proBNP, NYHA functional class, and KCCQ-12 score. The primary analysis follows the intention-to-treat principle.

AI-based Echocardiography for Detection of Cardiac Amyloidosis

Cardiac amyloidosis is characterized by deposition of misfolded protein in the myocardium causing mainly heart failure symptoms with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction. There are also specific clinical (bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome, polyneuropathy, skin bruising, ruptured biceps tendon…), biomarkers (disproportionally elevated NT-proBNP to the degree of heart failure, persistent elevated troponin, proteinuria..), electrocardiographic (reduced voltage of QRS, atrial fibrillation..) and echocardiographic features (concentric left ventricular hypertrophy, dilated atria, reduced global longitudinal strain with typical pattern of apical sparing, diastolic dysfunction…). Early diagnosis of the disease is crucial to identify patients that may benefit from appropriate treatment. Suspected cardiac amyloidosis on echocardiography or on cardiac magnetic resonance needs to prompt the request of serum free-light chain quantification and serum and urine immunofixation as well as single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using bone radiotracers. Echocardiography is the imaging technique of first choice to evaluate patients with dyspnea complaints and suspected heart failure as well as other pathologies. Echocardiography is a technique of first choice to evaluate patients with cardiovascular risk factors such as arterial hypertension and diabetes and many of those patients may have echocardiographic features that can be observed in early phases of cardiac amyloidosis. Currently, identification of patients with cardiac amyloidosis with available echocardiographic tools remains challenging. However, novel artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithms applied to echocardiographic images for analysis may help the cardiologists in the identification of early phase of cardiac amyloidosis. Early diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis is key to implement effective therapies that have demonstrated to improve survival. Several studies have demonstrated the accuracy of AI-based algorithms applied to echocardiography for the diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis. The hypothesis of the present prospective study is to evaluate the accuracy of the AI-based algorithm to identify patients with echocardiographic findings suggestive of cardiac ATTR amyloidosis using as ground truth the subsequent analysis with imaging techniques that permit its diagnosis such as 99mTc-pyrophosphate (PYP) SPECT and cardiac magnetic resonance as well as hematologic tests. If needed, histological confirmation on cardiac or extracardiac tissue could be performed, as recommended by recent consensus document from the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology. In addition, this study will help to answer the true prevalence of ATTR cardiac amyloidosis among patients referred to transthoracic echocardiography that present red flags for ATTR cardiac amyloidosis. The AI-based algorithm is the software Us2.ai which has been used in other populations for this purpose, as previously published.

Point-of-care Ultrasound and Treatment Disparities for Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

The objective of the proposed project is to quantify the prevalence and disparities of undiagnosed left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in Emergency Department (ED) patients with persistently elevated asymptomatic BP, and to measure the effect of disclosure, education, and expedited referral on 3-month outpatient follow-up and treatment rates for ED patients with newly diagnosed LVH by POCUS. Additionally, investigators will create a database of annotated clips for future development of a machine learning algorithm for LVH detection on POCUS.

Mineralocorticoid Receptor, Coronary Microvascular Function, and Cardiac Efficiency in Hypertension

The investigators' goal is to show that in hypertensive men and women with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) treatment with a mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonist, versus a thiazide-like diuretic, will improve coronary microvascular function and cardiac efficiency, which will associate with improvements in LV structure and function. The investigators will achieve this through a randomized, controlled, basic experimental study involving humans (BESH).

Left Ventricular Hypertrophy in CKD Patients

The goal of this observational study is to determine the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy among patients with chronic kidney disease at Sohag University Hospital and assess the effect of erythropoietin therapy on left ventricular mass and geometry in anemic CKD patients. The main question it aims to answer is: Does erythropoietin therapy mitigate or even reverse LVH and improve cardiac geometry ?

Evaluation of Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction Using an Accelerated Cardiac Cine-MRI Sequence With Deep Learning-based Image Reconstructions

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a common condition that may result from hypertension, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, aortic valve stenosis, or certain metabolic disorders. Cardiac imaging is essential for diagnosis, prognostic assessment, and quantification of cardiac function. While transthoracic echocardiography remains widely used, it is limited by acoustic window dependence and inter-observer variability. Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) imaging currently serves as the reference standard for measuring left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), cardiac volumes, and tissue characterization. However, conventional cine-CMR sequences require repeated breath-holds, which are often challenging for elderly or dyspneic patients, generating respiratory motion artifacts that compromise image quality. Accelerated cine-CMR sequences with deep learning-based image reconstructions offer a promising alternative by significantly reducing acquisition time while preserving image quality. This study aims to evaluate whether these accelerated cine-CMR sequences provide LVEF measurements concordant with conventional cine-CMR sequences, with potential to improve patient comfort and reduce examination time.

Diffusion MRI in Heart Failure

The development of symptomatic heart failure is frequently preceded by a pre-clinical period of structural remodeling in the heart. The remodeling process driving this transition, however, remains poorly understood. The investigators hypothesize that imaging the diffusion of water in the heart with MRI will allow its microstructure to be resolved. The investigators further hypothesize that the characterization of microstructural changes in the heart will help elucidate the pathogenesis of heart failure and the transition from a compensated to a decompensated state. Patients with recent myocardial infarcts and left ventricular hypertrophy, who are at risk for the development of heart failure, will be enrolled. The participants will undergo serial diffusion tensor MRI (DTI) imaging of the heart to characterize changes in myocardial microstructure over time.

Imaging Histone Deacetylase in the Heart

The overall goal of this PET-MR imaging trial is to evaluate 11C-Martinostat, a histone deacetylase targeted radioligand, in patients with aortic stenosis, individuals with diabetes, and healthy volunteers.

Pediatric Hypertension and the Renin-Angiotensin SystEm (PHRASE)

Studying the causal roles of components of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (including angiotensin-(1-7) (Ang-(1-7)), angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), Ang II, and ACE), uric acid, and klotho in pediatric hypertension and related target organ injury, including in the heart, kidneys, vasculature, and brain. Recruiting children with a new hypertension diagnosis over a 2-year period from the Hypertension and Pediatric Nephrology Clinics affiliated with Brenner Children's Hospital at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and Atrium Health Levine Children's Hospital. Healthy control participants will be recruited from local general primary care practices. Collecting blood and urine samples to analyze components of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (Ang-(1-7), ACE2, Ang II, ACE), uric acid, and klotho, and measuring blood pressure, heart structure and function, autonomic function, vascular function, and kidney function at baseline, year 1, and year 2. Objectives are to investigate phenotypic and treatment response variability and to causally infer if Ang-(1-7), ACE2, Ang II, ACE, uric acid, and klotho contribute to target organ injury due to hypertension.

AI-Enabled Diagnosis and Prognosis of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

By harnessing artificial intelligence to decode the 12-lead electrocardiogram, the project will enable precise ECG-based phenotyping of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy-accurately classifying septal, apical, and other morphologic subtypes-while simultaneously differentiating HCM from hypertensive heart disease, aortic stenosis, and other phenocopy disorders.

US Benchmarking Clinical Study

The goal of this observational study is to measure shear wave velocity (SWV) in patients with non-reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) heart failure and left ventricular hypertrophy, with or without transthyretin amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), and in control subjects without heart failure or cardiomyopathy. The main question it aims to answer is: • Can SWV be used to measure myocardial and liver stiffness in the study's target populations? Researchers will compare patients with ATTR-CM, patients without ATTR-CM, and a control group to determine the distributions of SWV in each population. Participants will: * Have a standard cardiology assessment, including a physical exam, blood work, and an echocardiogram. * Undergo an investigational assessment with the eMyosound LYRA device to measure SWV in their myocardium and liver. * Have the investigational assessment repeated by a second observer to assess measurement reliability.

Postnatal Steroids Effects on Cardiac Function in Extremely Preterm

Hypothesis/Study question In infants born at less than 29 weeks of estimated gestational age, what are the effects of dexamethasone use on cardiac structure/performance and lung water content? Study objectives To measure effects before and after dexamethasone administration on cardiac structure/performance will be evaluated by using the M-mode technique (Devereux method (25-27) and lung water content will be specifically determined by the degree of water retention in premature lungs assessed by lung ultrasound at the pre specified time points. Methodology / Study design Single center, prospective observational cohort study planning to enroll eligible patients over a period of 12 months

Response of the Myocardium to Hypertrophic Conditions in the Adult Population

Hypertension and aortic stenosis are the two leading conditions that cause thickening of the heart muscles (left ventricular hypertrophy). Left ventricular hypertrophy is initially adaptive to maintain optimal heart function. Ultimately, heart failure occurs as a result of progressive muscle cell death and scarring (myocardial fibrosis). Dedicated techniques using cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and novel high-sensitivity cardiac troponin blood assays are potential markers to detect myocardial fibrosis. Although hypertension-related heart disease is very common in Singapore, the significance of myocardial fibrosis is not well understood. In this study, the significance of myocardial fibrosis in 2000 patients with hypertension would be investigated. This will be the largest study using state-of-the-art MRI to examine the importance of myocardial fibrosis in hypertensive heart disease. 1000 participants, with at least 1 year follow-up, will be invited for a repeat assessment.

Etiological DiagnOsis of caRdiac Diseases Based on echoCardiograpHIc Images and Clinical Data.

Research hypothesis - Recent studies have shown that high-dimensional descriptors of the cardiac function can be efficiently exploited to characterize targeted pathologies. In this project, the investigators hypothesize that echocardiograms possess a wealth of information that is currently under-exploited and that, combined with relevant patient data, will allow the development of robust and accurate digital tools for etiological diagnosis. Objectives - Based on key advances recently obtained in image analysis, notably by members of the consortium, the objective of this project is to develop rigorous and explainable cardiac disease prediction models from echocardiography based on the transformer paradigm (AI). The strength of this study lies in the development of a strong AI framework to model the complex interactions between high-quality image-based measurements extracted from echocardiograms and relevant patient data to automatically predict etiological diagnosis of cardiac diseases