Clinical Trials

The purpose of this study is to estimate the proportion of Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) patients with abnormal gastrointestinal bleeding as assessed by HemoQuant fecal occult blood test. Also, in patients with gastrointestinal bleeding present, to summarize the extent of gastrointestinal bleeding; to examine the behavior of HemoQuant fecal occult blood test over time by estimating the proportion of VAD patients with a positive test prior to implantation; at one week, one month, three months, six months and one year post implantation, and after explantation of the VAD and to evaluate whether presence of any abnormal fecal HemoQuant test is predictive of a future major bleeding event.

The HeartMate II (HM II) LVAD is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in destination therapy (DT) patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class IIIB/IV symptoms. The ROADMAP trial is a prospective, multi-center, non-randomized, controlled, observational study that is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of HM II LVAD support versus optimal medical management (OMM) in ambulatory NYHA Class IIIB/IV heart failure patients who are not dependent on intravenous inotropic support and who meet the FDA approved indications for HM II LVAD destination therapy. Subjects will be enrolled in one of two cohorts: OMM or LVAD. Together with the investigator, the subjects will decide which cohort to enter into at their baseline visit. This study will include experienced HM II LVAD implant centers as well as community centers that care for a large volume of heart failure patients. Study patients will be followed for up to 24 months post enrollment for survival, quality of life and functional status.

In the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology classification of heart failure (HF), stage B is defined as patients with abnormal heart structure/function (systolic or diastolic dysfunction) without symptoms. This concept of preclinical HF is based on the fact that abnormal heart structure/function can be detected by complementary methods before the development of symptoms.Patients with those abnormalities may progress to heart failure and are at increased risk of adverse cardiac events.  Preclinical systolic dysfunction (PSD) is the initial compensated phase of left ventricular systolic dysfunction without symptoms of HF. We have established that diastolic dysfunction is common in the general population being present in approximately 25% of the population over age 45, the majority of whom are asymptomatic i.e. preclinical diastolic dysfunction (PDD). Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) is the second messenger of the natriuretic peptide system (NPS) and the nitric oxide system (NO) and plays an important role in the preservation of myocardial, vascular, and renal function.  Hence, disruption of this signal transduction process may contribute to the development of cardiorenal dysfunction. Type V phosphodiesterase (PDEV) metabolizes cGMP and is abundant in the kidney, vasculature, and has been recently reported in the heart. We and others have demonstrated that renal PDEV is up-regulated in experimental HF and may lead to the attenuation of renal cGMP generation in response to both endogenous and exogenous BNP, thus serving as a mechanism for renal resistance to BNP. Furthermore, in experimental overt HF, 10 days of PDEV inhibition treatment resulted in reduction of left ventricular (LV) mass, increased LV fractional shortening and cardiac output but did not improve renal function. However, chronic PDEV inhibition did enhance the renal actions of exogenous BNP, specifically improving glomular filtration rate (GFR) and renal cGMP generation. PDEV inhibitors are FDA approved for erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension.