Coronary Disease Clinical Trials

Title: Evaluating New Radiation Techniques for Cardiovascular Imaging Background: - Imaging studies such as computed tomography (CT) scans involve the use of radiation to create the pictures. Heart and blood vessel CT scans can cause high radiation exposure. Different methods of creating CT pictures have been developed to reduce the radiation dose. Researchers want to see how effective these new methods are in producing accurate CT scans. Objectives: - To study new ways of taking pictures of the heart or blood vessels using computed tomography. Eligibility: - Adults at least 18 years of age who will be having imaging studies to help detect heart or blood vessel problems. Design: Participants will be screened with a physical exam and medical history. Blood samples will be taken to check kidney function. Participants will have a CT scan of the heart and blood vessels. A contrast agent may be used to improve the quality of the images. The scanning session may last up to 2 hours. Participants will have follow-up contact 90 days after the scan, and then yearly contact for the next 5 years. Read Less

South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali, and Sri Lankan) individuals have high rates of cardiovascular disease that is not explained by traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Though South Asians represent over one-quarter of the world's population, there are no longitudinal studies in this high-risk ethnic group. The investigators aim to establish a longitudinal study of South Asians at three United States centers to identify risk factors linked to subclinical atherosclerosis and incident cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study is to understand the causes of heart disease and stroke in South Asians and compare these causes to those in other United States ethnic groups. Read Less

The PK Papyrus Covered Coronary Stent System is a coronary stent being used at Methodist Dallas Medical Center for patients with coronary perforations. Read Less

This study is being conducted to provide access to and collect test data for an established nuclear medicine diagnostic imaging test called Positron Emission Tomography (PET), using a specific radioactive drug called Ammonia N-13 (Ammonia), referred to simply as an Ammonia PET scan, which is used to visualize the blood flow through the blood vessels and into the heart muscle in order to identify areas of restricted blood flow within the heart. The scanner used in this study may be a stand-alone PET scanner or a PET/CT scanner, which combines the PET scanner and a Computed Tomography (CT) scanner into a single device. Unless otherwise stated in this consent form, the term PET will be used to refer to both stand-alone PET and PET/CT scanners. While physicians have used the Ammonia PET test for many years to visualize (image) the blood flow into the heart muscle (perfusion), it is now possible to also measure the flow of blood into the heart muscle. Research studies have demonstrated clinical value in reviewing the measured blood flow values in addition to reviewing the perfusion images of blood flow into the heart muscle. Therefore, this study will establish a database of a large number of Ammonia PET measured blood flow values to serve as a future reference. Read Less