Clinical Trial

Can Tiny Bubbles Offer an Alternative to Catheters for Assessing Pressures Inside the Heart? Investigating Ultrasound Contrast Agents as Pressure Sensors Against Gold Standard Catheter Pressures in Cardiac Catheterisation Patients.

Study acronym: SonoHeart
Recruiting
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Summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to investigate if ultrasound contrast agents can be used to estimate filling pressures inside the heart in patients with suspected heart disease. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Is there a strong correlation between the contrast signal and filling pressures inside the heart? * What is the calibration approach to convert the contrast signal from dB to a measure of pressure in mmHg? Researchers will compare the contrast signal with reference pressures measured using a catheter to see if it can be used to quantify filling pressures inside the heart. Participants will: * Be exposed to a small amount of additional ionising radiation to guide a catheter in position inside the heart for reference pressures * Receive an ultrasound contrast agent at the clinically recommended dose and in line with clinical guidelines, via an intravenous line in their arm * Undergo contrast echocardiography - ultrasound scan of their heart with contrast * Undergo standard echocardiography - ultrasound scan of their heart without contrast
Trial Details
NCT Number NCT07416279
Lead Sponsor King's College London
Collaborators: King's College Hospital NHS Trust
Conditions HFpEF - Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction, Cardiac Catheterisation, Heart Disease
Enrollment 10 participants
Start Date 2026-02
Primary Completion 2027-03 (estimated)
Study Completion 2027-03 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov 2026-02-18