Protocol

Funding Source

VA Location

1. Mechanistic Insight of Premature Ventricular Contractions- induced Cardiomyopathy

Protocol Form, Feedback Document, and Summary of the Literature

NIH

Richmond, VA

Purpose of Research:  Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVCs) interfere with proper beating of the heart. This is research into the cellular mechanisms involved, which we need to understand in order to develop better ways to manage PVCs.

2. Autonomic Nerve Activity and Cardiac Arrhythmias

Protocol Form, Feedback Document, and Summary of the Literature

American Heart Association

Richmond, VA

Purpose of Research: Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) interfere with nerve signals to the heart and can damage heart muscle. This is research into how the loss of nerve signals might be responsible for the damage.   Understanding this better is critical to developing better ways to protect the heart.

3. Nanoparticle Injection into Ganglionated Neural Plexi to Prevent Atrial Fibrillation

Protocol Form, Feedback Document, and Summary of the Literature

Other

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Virginia Commonwealth

Richmond, VA

Purpose of Research:  Atrial fibrillation (AF) increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, hospitalization, and death, but current treatments for AF are risky. This is research into new ways to treat AF with less risk than is currently possible.

4. A Comparison of Canine Anesthetic Regimens to Optimize Hemodynamic Stability and Quality of Electrophysiologic and Neurophysiologic Data Acquisition

Protocol Form, Feedback Document, and Summary of the Literature

Other

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internal funds

Richmond, VA

Purpose of Research:  Sedatives and anesthetics commonly affect how the heart works. This study is designed to sort out how to reduce the cardiac side effects while achieving appropriate anesthesia for future studies of cardiac function.

5. Administration of Intratumoral Immunocytokine to Activate Immune Rejection of Spontaneous Canine Melanoma

Protocol Form, Feedback Document, and Summary of the Literature

VA funds UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine cancer study in dogs (nbc15.com)

VA

Madison, WI

Purpose of Research: Service-related to exposure to sun places Veterans at increased risk of melanoma, compared to the general US population.  This aggressive skin cancer frequently spreads to other parts of the body, after which it is usually fatal.  In dogs, melanoma is a common oral cancer.  This research is to evaluate the safety and effects of some new ways of treating melanoma in privately owned pet dogs that have developed the disease spontaneously, and have been brought to a university school of veterinary medicine for care, where the owners choose to have their dogs participate.  Because of the similarity of the oral melanoma that develops spontaneously in dogs to the melanoma that humans get, this is an important step in the process of preparing the new treatments for human clinical trials.

6. Contribution of Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Pericardial Fluid to Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation after Cardiac Surgery

Protocol Form, Feedback Document, and Summary of the Literature

VA

St. Louis, MO

Purpose of Research:  Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is associated with longer hospital stays after cardiac surgery, and increased risks of stroke and death in Veterans and others.  This researcher has newly identified factors in the blood and in the pericardial fluid that bathes the heart that seem to be related to POAF in human patients who undergo cardiac surgery . This research is the next step, to evaluate in a dog model the mechanisms by which those factors may contribute to POAF.  This knowledge is needed as a basis for developing effective ways to prevent and treat POAF .