Clinical Trials

Has your doctor recommended right heart cardiac catheterization for you? This study is investigating new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques that use a guidewire to help position a heart catheter within the heart. MRI fluoroscopy shows pictures of the heart so that doctors can watch while they work. Using the guidewire during MRI may improve the procedure of heart catheterization. To participate in this study, you must be at least 18 years old, and your doctor must have recommended right heart catheterization for you. This study is located in Bethesda, Maryland.

Are you in need of a heart or lung transplant or have you had one in the past 3 months? Have you undergone a lung or heart transplant in the past 3 months or are you a candidate for heart or lung transplant? Some people with advanced heart and lung disease have heart and lung transplants but these new organs are often rejected. When this happens, patients must have repeated biopsies, which are invasive and expensive. Researchers in this clinical study want to see if a blood test can predict organ rejection and take the place of biopsies. To participate, you must be 18 to 80 years old and be a candidate for heart or lung transplant or have had a heart or lung transplant no more than three months ago. The study is taking place in Bethesda, Maryland, at the NIH Clinical Center, as well as in Baltimore, Maryland, and Falls Church, Virginia.

Do you or a loved one have pneumonia? This study will test whether combining two medicines to reduce inflammation of the airway and to keep it open may help prevent respiratory failure in people who have pneumonia. To participate in this study, you must be at least 18 years old and have severe pneumonia with low blood oxygen levels.

Are you being treated in the ICU for acute respiratory failure? This study is looking at whether treating depression along with physical therapy helps people recover faster from respiratory failure. After leaving the ICU, you will be visited at your home by a physical therapist and occupational therapist who will talk to you about your goals for recovery and what activities you value the most. They will then design a plan for you that includes a type of talk therapy for depression called behavioral activation. To participate in this study, you must be at least 18 years old and undergoing treatment for acute respiratory failure for more than 24 hours in the ICU. This study is located in Baltimore, Maryland.