View clinical trials related to Cholangitis.
Filter by:Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) is a progressive liver disorder of unknown cause. Current evidence suggests that genes, the genetic material we inherit from our parents, in combination with environmental factors, likely play an important role in the development of PSC. This study is being done to investigate whether genes make people more likely to develop PSC. Discovery of these genes will help us to better understand how PSC developes and subsequently, to apply new approaches for its prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
Cholangitis is the most prevalent infectious complication of ERCP. Stenting of biliary strictures and stenosis is one of important risk factors for post-ERCP cholangitis. Adding antibiotics to contrast media has proposed in some studies for prevention of cholangitis but remains controversial. In this study we compare effect of adding gentamicin versus placebo in preventing cholangitis in patients who undergone endoscopic stenting for non-calculus strictures and stenosis.
The aim of this study is to determine the average patency period of the new anti-reflux biliary stent on patients with malignant bile duct strictures and to determine if this stent remains patent for a longer period of time comparing with the ordinary plastic Tannenbaum biliary stent.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether fenofibrate is safe and effective in the treatment primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).
Biliary obstruction and cholangitis are common problems in gastroenterology and need specific therapeutic interventions. Besides a variety of potential causes, infections of the biliary tract with Candida and other fungal species have increasingly been reported in the last few years. Especially interesting is the question, if patients with positive fungal cultures of bile samples should be treated or not and under which circumstances. The primary aim of the present study is to evaluate wether positive fungal cultures of bile samples indicate fungal infection of the biliary tract, rather colonization or simply contamination during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedure.
Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), although uncommon, is a devastating and insidiously progressive liver disease, resulting from advancing inflammation, fibrosis and obliteration of the bile ducts in the liver, leading to cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease. Although prognosis in children may be somewhat better than that of adults, approximately one third of pediatric patients require transplantation by adulthood. Other than transplantation, there is to date no therapy conclusively proven to improve the long-term outcome. Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) improves biochemical markers of liver disease, although in high doses does not clearly improve the long-term outcome in adults, and in a recent study may have actually worsened outcome. Childhood PSC is different from that of adult PSC in many ways, and children may derive more short-term, as well as long-term, benefit than adults. This unique multicenter study will carefully monitor the effects of withdrawal and restarting UDCA on liver injury and inflammation in children with PSC. The preliminary data will help in the design of a more definitive larger study to determine if UDCA has a beneficial role in the treatment of PSC in children. Funding Source - FDA OOPD
The purpose of this study is to determine whether Vancomycin or Metronidazole is safe and beneficial in the treatment of Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis.
Background: Antibiotic treatment of cholangitis often remains insufficient due to inappropriate antibiotic use or bacterial resistance. Objective: To evaluate the role of routine bile collection during endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) or percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC) for microbiological analysis in the antibiotic management of cholangitis and to identify risk factors of microbial growth. Design: Prospective, observational, diagnostic study. Setting: Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. Patients and Interventions: Consecutive patients undergoing ERC/PTC for biliary complications after orthotopic liver transplantation , malignancy, primary sclerosing cholangitis, benign strictures and choledocholithiasis. Main outcome measurements: Microbiological examination of bile samples
Biliary obstruction can be relieved by biliary stent. Ascending infection of biliary passage (cholangitis) causes hospitalization and obstruction of stents. Reflux of intestinal fluids through a stent is thought to be one of the causes of cholangitis. Stents with antireflux valves are designed to reduce the reflux from the bowel. The purpose of the study is to investigate prospectively whether it is possible to reduce the amount of infection and thus obstruction of biliary stent by using a stent with an antireflux valve compared to a normal stent without an antireflux valve.
Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the bile ducts of unknown etiology. It is characterized by diffuse inflammation and stricturing of the entire biliary tree, eventually resulting in cirrhosis of the liver. Patients with PSC are at increased risk for the development of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), a cancer arising from bile duct epithelium. This risk is estimated to be approximately 1 to 1.5% per year. It is postulated that chronic inflammatory changes in the biliary epithelium promote CCA formation. The prognosis of CCA is fatal. The only potentially curative therapy is surgical; however, only a minority of patients qualify for surgical treatment. Several studies have demonstrated overexpression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in CCA cells. EGFR is a type 1 tyrosine kinase promoting cell proliferation, migration and altered cell adhesion - typical characteristics of malignant neoplasias. In CCA cells, EGFR-activation is sustained resulting in cancer progression. In human CCA samples, EGFR-expression correlates with higher histologic grade, poor prognosis, and risk of recurrence. The EGFR gene is located on the short arm of chromosome 7 (7p12). Chromosomal abnormalities of the bile duct epithelium, particularly trisomy 7 (i.e. three copies of chromosome 7) can be detected in biliary epithelial samples obtained by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in PSC patients. The finding of cells with trisomy 7 has preceded the development of aneuploidy and multiple chromosomal abnormalities in a number of patients, the latter chromosomal abnormalities are characteristic of CCA. Trisomy 7 amplifies the gene for EGFR thereby presumably promoting overexpression of this growth factor receptor. In a cohort of patients with Trisomy 7 and Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis patients followed for 1 year, the rate of development of Cholangiocarcinoma was 35% (n=37, Dr. Gores, unpublished observation). Patients without cytologic abnormalities were at minimal risk for the development of CCA. Erlotinib (Tarceva) is a human EGFR type 1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Tarceva received FDA approval as single agent treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. In a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial of 731 patients, receiving 150 mg of Tarceva or placebo once daily, median survival was prolonged to 6.7 months from 4.7 months (p<0.001). Analysis of epidermal growth factor receptor expression (45% of total study patients) demonstrated greater survival benefit in EGFR positive patients. Tarceva in combination with Gemcitabine is also FDA approved as first line therapy in patients with locally advanced, unresectable or metastatic pancreatic cancer. Our central hypothesis is that patients with trisomy 7 will have carcinogenic changes including EGFR overexpression. EGFR blockade will inhibit a growth/survival advantage for these premalignant clones eliminating them from the biliary epithelium. As an initial step towards testing this hypothesis, the tolerability of Tarceva in this patient population needs to be established. This study will assist in determining the safety and tolerability of Tarceva in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis. This study will be followed by a Phase 2 randomized controlled trial of Tarceva in patients with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis with Trisomy 7.