Clinical trials

Calcium Release Deficiency Syndrome (CRDS) is a newly discovered genetic arrhythmia syndrome that confers a risk of life-threatening arrhythmias secondary to RYR2 loss-of-function. The International CRDS registry has been designed to facilitate large-scale evaluation of CRDS, including its phenotypic spectrum, approaches to risk stratification, and optimal treatment strategies.

Calcium Release Deficiency Syndrome (CRDS) is a novel inherited arrhythmia syndrome secondary to RyR2 loss-of-function that confers a risk of sudden cardiac death. Diagnosis of CRDS presently requires cellular-based in vitro confirmation that an RyR2 variant causes loss-of-function. We hypothesize that CRDS can be diagnosed clinically through evaluation of the repolarization response to brief tachycardia, mediated by cardiac pacing, and a subsequent pause.

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate if, in patients with severe obesity (body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m2) and high-risk cardiovascular disease (CVD), bariatric surgery compared to medical weight management (MWM) safely reduces the risk of major cardiovascular events. The cost-effectiveness of bariatric surgery will also be examined. Separate sub-studies will be performed to examine the relationship between bariatric surgery and mental health and cognition (BRAVE-Mind), cardiac structure and function, genomics, proteomics and metabolomics.

The START-POAF pilot study is a prospective, open-label two-arm, randomized controlled trial with blinded assessment of outcomes (PROBE). This pilot study will assess Atrial Fibrillation (AF) recurrence and burden in patients with new-onset AF following cardiac surgery.

Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) is a procedure that improves recovery for people who suffer from a stroke by removing blood clots from large blood vessels in the brain. However, even with this treatment, over half of the patients either pass away or are left with serious disabilities within three months. This is partly because, even in cases of a successful EVT, brain tissue damage continues to grow. Extent of brain damage is a major factor in how well a patient recovers. Studies in animals have shown that a drug called semaglutide might help protect the brain and improve recovery after a stroke. Semaglutide is currently used for the treatment of diabetes and obesity and is given as a weekly injection under the skin. The investigators are hoping to test whether giving semaglutide to stroke patients undergoing EVT can improve their recovery. A very large study at many hospitals is needed to answer this question. The investigators are starting with a smaller study to gain information on whether it is possible to perform a larger definitive one, and if so, how best to plan for it. In this first step the investigators will study 100 patients with stroke who are scheduled for EVT in approximately 10 stroke centers across Canada. These patients will be randomly divided (like flipping a coin) into two groups: one will receive weekly semaglutide injections for 12 weeks, while the other will not receive the drug. The investigators will track how many patients agree to participate, how many stay in the study, and how well they follow the treatment plan. The investigators will also monitor the patients' recovery, overall health, and any side effects from the treatment. These results will provide important information to plan the larger study with the goal of reducing death rates and long-term disability in stroke patients undergoing EVT.

The Low dose ColchicinE in pAtients with peripheral Artery DiseasE to address residual vascular Risk (LEADER-PAD) trial will evaluate if anti-inflammatory therapy with colchicine will reduce vascular events in patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease.

CATIS-ICAS is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled (RCT), phase III study seeking to demonstrate that oral rivaroxaban 2.5 mg twice daily plus aspirin daily is superior to clopidogrel 75 mg daily plus aspirin daily for 90 days followed by placebo plus aspirin daily for preventing recurrent stroke in those with ischemic stroke secondary to intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) of 30-99%, when started within 30 days of index stroke.

Data indicate that patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) are at high risk for thromboembolic events and disability that is not being sufficiently mitigated by current treatment strategies. This is aggravated by the cessation of antithrombotic medications for significant periods after hemorrhage. These findings highlight the need for novel treatments that modify the high risk for major vascular events and functional outcomes in ICH survivors. The objective of CoVasc-ICH 2 is to demonstrate that oral colchicine 0.5 mg daily is superior to placebo for improving the outcomes of ICH survivors with evidence or risk factors for atherosclerosis, when started within 72 hours from ICH onset.

Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT), also known as clot retrieval, is a procedure that improves recovery for people who suffer a stroke by removing blood clots from large blood vessels in the brain. However, half of the patients undergoing EVT to remove the clot from a brain vessel still face lasting disabilities or even die within three months. The investigators of the HoBIT trial are trying to find out if the position of the head of bed improves recovery in patients who undergo EVT after suffering from a stroke. The purpose of this study is to establish the benefit of head of bed positioning at 0-degrees compared with 30-degrees or more after EVT for improving functional outcomes in adults that suffer from a stroke.

Multinational, investigator-initiated study of oral anticoagulation versus no anticoagulation for the prevention of stroke and other adverse cardiovascular events in patients with transient atrial fibrillation occurring transiently with stress and additional stroke risk factors.

This study evaluates the use of a lower INR target (1.5 to 2.5) in patients with a mechanical bileaflet heart valve in the aortic position. This study will inform physicians about whether a lower INR target will decrease the risk of bleeding or increase the risk of blood clot formation and stroke. These results have the potential to reduce the burden of bleeding in patients with a mechanical heart valve who require lifelong warfarin (Coumadin) treatment.

The HIP ATTACK-2 trial is a multicentre, international, parallel group randomized controlled trial to determine whether accelerated surgery for hip fracture in patients with acute myocardial injury is superior to standard care in reducing death at 90 days after randomization. The trial will also assess secondary outcomes at 90 days after randomization: inability to independently walk 3 metres, time to first mobilization (first standing and first full weight bear), composite and individual assessment of major complications (e.g., mortality, non-fatal myocardial infarction, acute congestive heart failure, and stroke), delirium, length of stay, pain, and quality of life.

The DANCE Trial is a multi-centre, randomized controlled trial comparing the safety of direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) versus vitamin K antagonists (VKA) in the early period (30 days) after cardiac surgery in patients with atrial fibrillation requiring oral anticoagulation.

A double blinded, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial to evaluate effectiveness of azithromycin prophylaxis on mortality in advanced HIV.

HD PCI is a multicenter, randomized, registry-based, cluster crossover design trial of higher dose versus lower dose heparin in patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

PRINCE is an international, multicentre, randomized controlled trial of posterior pericardiotomy in patients without a history of atrial fibrillation (AF) or flutter undergoing cardiac surgery.

COMPLETE-2 is a prospective, multi-centre, randomized controlled trial comparing a strategy of physiology-guided complete revascularization to angiography-guided complete revascularization in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD) who have undergone successful culprit lesion Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI). COMPLETE-2 OCT is a large scale, prospective, multi-centre, observational, imaging study of patients with STEMI or NSTEMI and multivessel CAD in a subset of eligible COMPLETE-2 patients.

People with atrial fibrillation who have a stroke while receiving a DOAC are at increased risk of experiencing another stroke. Physicians do not know the best medication to prevent another stroke in this group of people. Options include continuing the same DOAC, switching to another DOAC or switching to warfarin. The investigators of the SWITCH-AF trial are trying to find out whether switching to warfarin or continuing a DOAC is better for preventing stroke. The purpose of this study, called a pilot study, is to test the study plan and to find out whether enough participants will join a larger study that answers the question. A pilot study involves a small number of participants and it is not expected to tell us which treatment is better.

FARGO is a prospective cohort study that aims to determine the performance of preoperative frailty assessment based on the Frailty Phenotype (FP), compared to a perioperative cardiovascular risk assessment based on the combination of preoperative Revised Cardiac Risk Index (RCRI), age and occurrence of myocardial injury after noncardiac surgery (MINS), in predicting the composite of all-cause death or new disability at 6 months after surgery in patients aged 55 or older. Patients will have confirmed or suspected gynecologic cancer, undergoing cytoreductive or high-risk surgery with or without chemotherapy.

Trastuzumab is an important treatment for HER 2 positive breast cancer. But trastuzumab can cause injury to the heart, and this is one of the main reasons it cannot be administered as planned. Heart injury can often be successfully treated using cardiac medications. The objectives of SCHOLAR-2 are to evaluate whether is it safe and effective to continue trastuzumab, pertuzumab or trastuzumab-emtansine (T-DM1) in patients with early stage HER-2 positive breast cancer despite mild, minimally symptomatic or asymptomatic systolic left ventricular dysfunction as compared with a guideline-driven approach of withholding or discontinuing trastuzumab, pertuzumab or trastuzumab-emtansine (T-DM1). In SCHOLAR-2, we will compare two thresholds of withholding or discontinuing trastuzumab/pertuzumab/trastuzumab-emtansine: a threshold that is currently advocated for by existing treatment practice guidelines versus a more aggressive threshold that allows trastuzumab/pertuzumab/trastuzumab-emtansine to continue at lower levels of LVEF than currently supported by guideline documents.

The TheRAPy vanguard trial is a multicentre, multiple period randomized, cluster crossover vanguard trial testing the feasibility of a full-scale trial to evaluate whether a centre-based policy of routine use of RAP versus a policy of crystalloid priming reduces RBC transfusion for patients undergoing cardiac surgery on cardiopulmonary bypass. It will also provide information about key parameters of the TheRAPy full-scale trial.

SAFE is an international multicentre RCT of concomitant surgical atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation in patients with paroxysmal or persistent AF undergoing cardiac surgery.

The clinic visits (intervention) will continue for 90 days, which represents the follow-up period for the primary medication and health status outcomes. The co-primary clinical outcomes will be obtained at 180 days.

The Post discharge after surgery Virtual Care with Remote Automated Monitoring technology-2 (PVC-RAM-2) Trial is a multicentre, parallel group, superiority, randomized controlled trial to determine the effect of virtual care with remote automated monitoring (RAM) technology compared to standard care on acute-hospital care during the 45-day follow up after randomization, in adults who have undergone semi-urgent (e.g., oncology), urgent (e.g., hip fracture), or emergency (e.g., ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm) surgery. Secondary outcomes at 45 days after randomization include 1) days in hospital; 2) index length of hospital stay; 3) hospital re-admission; 4) emergency department visit; 5) medication error detection; 6) medication error correction; and 7) surgical site infection. Additional secondary outcomes are pain of any severity, and moderate-to-severe pain assessed at 15 and 45 days. We will also assess optimal management of long-term health by evaluating among self-reported current smokers and those with atherosclerotic disease, whether patients are taking classes of efficacious medications at 45 days post randomization.

This is a multicentre prospective cohort study where patients will receive up to 14 days of continuous ECG monitoring by wearing a portable monitoring device, starting within 72 hours after noncardiac surgery.