Acquired Heart Disease

TORCH-LATAM-002 is a pragmatic stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial evaluating an integrated regional pathway for adults with advanced heart failure who require specialized heart transplant evaluation and a documented candidacy decision. Participating network clusters transition from usual local pathways to the TORCH Adult Heart Transplant Evaluation and Candidacy Pathway. The primary outcome is completion of multidisciplinary evaluation and a documented transplant-candidacy decision within 90 days after enrollment. The study also examines pathway activation, barriers, clinical outcomes, waiting-list trajectories, and traceable donor-organ opportunities. Enrollment does not constitute placement on an official waiting list, organ allocation, or authorization of cross-border care.

TORCH-LATAM-004 is a pragmatic stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial evaluating a regional pathway for adults with advanced heart failure secondary to acquired or structural heart disease who may require heart or combined transplantation, mechanical circulatory or extracorporeal support, advanced structural intervention, or another regulated advanced-therapy pathway. Clusters transition from usual local pathways to TORCH-AATP. The primary outcome is completion of the prespecified multidisciplinary evaluation and documentation of an advanced-pathway decision within 90 days after enrollment. The study also evaluates barriers, authorized pathway or waiting-list activation, longitudinal status, mechanical support, definitive therapy, external regulated pathways, and clinical outcomes. Donor-organ and matching events are captured only where legally authorized and do not replace national allocation systems or transplant-center decisions.

SickKids and UHN have developed MedlyPeds which is a smart phone application designed to remotely monitor patients with heart disease. This is a feasibility study which will enroll up to 30 patients with different types of heart disease to see which patient types may benefit the most from MedlyPeds if it were to be used for clinical monitoring. The study is gathering feedback about the app from patients, parents and clinicians to confirm how it needs to be modified to better serve the purpose in a future trial.

The goal of this observational study is to demonstrate the presence of a correlation between echographic measurements of the inferior vena cava (IVC) normalized for the pediatric population and right atrial pressures (RAP) measured by central venous catheter (CVC) so as to create a predictive model of the value of right atrial pressures using echocardiographic parameters in the pediatric population. This study is single-center longitudinal and involves retrospective and prospective data collection.