View clinical trials related to Liver Cirrhosis.
Filter by:Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) is a common and increasingly recognized disorder in cirrhosis (30% to 73%). One of the most important predisposing factors of SIBO is small bowel dysmotility. Multiple studies have shown that the presence of SIBO is strongly linked to the pathogenesis of Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy (MHE) also known as Covert Hepatic Encephalopathy (CHE). Consequently, altering and modulating the intestinal microbiota with ammonia-lowering agents and Rifaximin has been the target treatment strategy in CHE. The aim of this study is to determine the therapeutic effect of Rifaximin on patients with CHE and underlying SIBO while assessing the influence of Rifaximin on small bowel motility. In this prospective interventional study, 40 patients with liver cirrhosis will be screened for Covert Hepatic Encephalopathy (CHE) using neuro-psychometric tests. Patients diagnosed with CHE will undergo breath test (BT) for SIBO screening. Afterwards, wireless motility capsule (The SmartPill) will be performed in all patients with a positive BT. Thereafter, the cirrhotic patients diagnosed with CHE and SIBO will receive Rifaximin 550 mg PO twice daily for eight weeks. At the end of treatment, neuro-psychometric tests will be repeated to evaluate the therapeutic effect on CHE. In addition, BT and SmartPill will be repeated at the completion of the Rifaximin treatment period to assess the effect on small bowel motility. All collected clinical parameters at the end of the study will be compared to baseline values.
Though the results of autologous CD34+ cell infusion and MSC in independent studies have shown promise, yet they are yet to reach the desired long term outcome. The possible postulation for this is possibly because when using autologous CD34+ cell infusion, the inflammatory milieu of the liver may not be conducive for sustained effects of the mobilized CD 34+ cells. MSC have immunomodulatory effect (ref) and may improve the liver environment making it more beneficial for the CD34+ cells to function and survive. In addition, MSC has ben shown to produce hepatocyte growth factor which is protective against liver injury and beneficial for liver regeneration (shown in above tables). However, it remains to be understood how MSCs promote liver stem stem cells to differentiate into hepatocytes or expand the residual hepatocyte population. MSC can also directly inhibit the activation of hepatic stellate cells, the main source of extracellular matrix via MSC derived IL 10 and TNF-αand may also induce hepatic stellate cell apoptosis. Current lacunae in cell based therapy is based on the poor consensus and understanding on the best type of cells to be used, the ideal number of cells, the most appropriate route of administration and the need for repeat dosing . The concept that combination of autologous hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells infusion may be more beneficial than infusing any one of them alone has been discussed in many scientific forums but there are no study till date to either see the safety as well as the efficacy of this proof of concept . With this above background data, we propose a study design which will be a safety study for combination use of autologous CD34+ and MSC
This study evaluate Frailty syndrome (FS) as a common syndrome in patients with cirrhosis and it is an independent predictor of hospitalizations, falls and mortality. Identifying, treating and preventing FS can improve the prognosis and quality of life of these patients and reduce health costs.
Due to shortage of local studies of the adherence of physicians to the guidelines for albumin use among patients with liver cirrhosis so this study aims to assess: 1. Physicians' knowledge on the evidence-based indications for HA use supported by the international guidelines; 2. Whether HA is used in clinical conditions not supported by solid scientific evidence; 3. To formulate the evidence-based indications for HA use supported by the international guidelines and to evaluate effect of distributing these evidence-based indications on physicians' knowledge.
In previous studies, the investigators used retrospective analysis of cases of acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with liver cirrhosis from the Fifth Medical Center of the General Hospital of Beijing PLA, China from January 2018 to May 2019. The investigators performed univariate and multivariate analyses of rebleeding risk and death risk based on all data. Then, based on the analysis of 85% of the sampled data, the investigators randomly selected 85% of the patient data to build a model, and then used the remaining 15% of the patient data for model validation. Re-bleeding risk scores and death risk scores were established, respectively. This study intends to prospectively verify the two risk scoring systems described above. After statistical calculations, about 500 patients with liver cirrhosis who plan to undergo emergency gastroscopy for acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding within the next 5 months at the Fifth Medical Center of Beijing General Hospital of China performed in adult patients. The investigators will exclude patients with incomplete or lost follow-up records. Perform patient self-control,using the existing upper gastrointestinal bleeding risk scores (AIMS65, Rockall, and Blatchford) and the previous scoring system model separately, compared with the actual rebleeding rate and mortality for comparison. To verify and revise the rebleeding risk score and death risk score that the investigators constructed earlier.The data were statistical processed by a professional statistician. The establishment of an acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding rebleeding and death risk scoring system for patients with liver cirrhosis can help distinguish patients with high or low risk of rebleeding or death to determine the patient's treatment needs.
Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and Non-Alcoholic SteatoHepatitis (NASH), are a frequent complication of type 2 diabetes and obesity. This disease has been linked with an increased morbidity and mortality, in particular cardiovascular disease and hepatic complications (cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma). NAFLD is covered different liver damage in ascending order: steatosis, Non-Alcoholic SteatoHepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, and finally cirrhosis. Mostly, fibrosis has a determining role in the patient's status health. The fibrosis prevalence rate may reach up to 15 % of people with type 2 diabetes. The purpose of the study is to screen hepatic fibrosis for patient with type 2 diabetes. To be sure of the status of the disease, the gold standard procedure remains liver biopsy. However, it's an invasive procedure and it's a challenge to perform this kind of medical procedure to every patient with NAFLD. Some alternative procedure exists, called FibroScan that gives some indication of liver fibrosis status. Unfortunately, every diabetologist hasn't this equipment in his medical office. The investigators propose to evaluate two non-invasive biological fibrosis tests, called eLIFT and FibroMeter. The results of these two diagnostic tests will be compared to FibroScan and to liver biopsy results.
Due to providing valuable clinical information while being minimally invasive, blood-based testing will most likely be a prerequisite for future large-scale screening of high-risk populations. As a variety of pathological processes, including carcinogenesis, may cause changes in both the concentration and the structure and spatial arrangement of body biomolecules, the spectroscopic analysis of blood-based derivatives appears to be an appropriate tool for the early detection thereof. The differences observed in the spectral response of healthy individuals and patients may also be specific to a particular type/stage of the disease and, thus, may serve as a reliable diagnostic marker. In order to find sufficiently specific and sensitive biomarkers of early stages of degenerative and cancerous diseases, the co-applicant group at the Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague (UCT Prague), developed a unique approach for the spectroscopic analysis of blood plasma. Using the highly specialized, structure-sensitive methods of chiroptical spectroscopy (electronic circular dichroism - ECD, Raman optical activity - ROA) combined with conventional infrared (IR) and Raman spectroscopy, the first pilot studies yielded promising results with respect to the identification of spectral markers for pancreatic cancer, colon cancer and type 1 diabetes mellitus. In addition, metabolomics appears to be a very progressive approach to finding potentially suitable molecules to distinguish between healthy and cancer-affected individuals. Therefore, the investigators believes that this multimodal approach will allow for the identification of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In our research, the focus will be on the identification of novel biomarkers in blood plasma that would exhibit sufficient sensitivity and specificity to detect early and potentially curable HCC stages, and that would be potentially useful for routine screening of this disease in well-defined at-risk groups.
In this pilot study, the investigators aim to assess feasibility of subject identification and data collection, including specimen processing, as well as the rate of enrollment for a future, larger study of the effect of empiric antibiotics for all patients with advanced cirrhosis admitted to the hospital without an existing indication for new antibiotic use. Specifically, the investigators will assess the incidence of infection after the time of enrollment and associated outcomes. Subjects will be randomly assigned to receive antibiotics vs placebo.
A common complication of the progression of cirrhosis is fluid retention (ascites, edema, or pleural effusion). Loop diuretics are the treatment of choice for fluid retention in cirrhotic patients; however, many of these patients demonstrate diuretic resistance, requiring higher doses of the diuretics to achieve adequate diuresis. The cause of this diuretic resistance is hypothesized to be secondary to hypoalbuminemia which has led some providers to give human albumin in combination with loop diuretics to increase intravascular volume and facilitate diuresis. However, this practice remains controversial because minimal data exists to support its efficacy. The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy of diuretics alone versus diuretics in combination with albumin in cirrhotic patients presenting with fluid retention.
HCC is a serious threat to the health of people. Accurate diagnosis of early HCC by imaging allows patients to obtain proper treatment. However, for lesions with diameters ≤2 cm, the tumor blood supply is not fully established, and there may be no typical manifestation on the image. In addition, atypical enhanced patterns caused by liver cirrhosis may also hinder imaging diagnosis of HCC. Therefore, early diagnosis of HCC in the context of cirrhosis remains a major clinical problem. Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) and MRI Contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CEMRI) are common diagnostic imaging methods. Till now, there is still lack of a detailed investigation comparing the diagnostic efficacies of CEUS and EOB-MRI for micro HCC in the context of cirrhosis. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the imaging patterns in CEUS and EOB-MRI for liver lesions with diameters ≤ 2 cm among patients with high risk of HCC, and to compare the diagnostic efficacies of EOB-MRI and CEUS for early-stage HCCs.