View clinical trials related to Portal Hypertension.
Filter by:This is a randomized single-blind feasibility trial to test the utilization of home blood pressure devices to improve the clinical management of decompensated cirrhosis patients.
Research has proven that large varices can be treated with beta-blockers (a type of anti-hypertensive medication) to reduce the pressure in the veins. The management of small varices is still uncertain. This study aims to discover if beta blockers can be used in this setting. We hypothesize that beta blockers will reduce the risk of bleeding from small varices from 20% to 10% over a period of 3 years, resulting in significant cost savings to the NHS from better patient outcomes.
This multicenter trial is being conducted to determine if sequential lactulose and Tele (virtual) Tai-Chi reduces the rate of injurious fall, non-injurious falls, incident overt Hepatic Encephalopathy (HE), and death or liver transplant over 24 weeks. Participants that are enrolled will be randomized to stage one of this project for approximately 12 weeks. After completing stage one, participants will be re-randomized to stage 2 of the project that will last approximately 12 more weeks. The study hypothesizes that sequential lactulose/TeleTai-Chi will reduce falls, incident overt HE, death and physical frailty and will improve cognitive function, and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) over 24 weeks compared to other treatment combinations.
According to international guidelines, Hepatic Venous Pressure Gradient is the gold standard technique for portal hypertension measurement, but it is invasive and poorly available. Currently, surveillance of oesophageal/gastric varices is performed by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. More recently, non-invasive tools to estimate portal hypertension have been developed and, among them, ultrasound elastography has been proposed as a technique to stratify patient risk to have portal hypertension. Aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between ultrasound evaluation (D-CEUS + elastography) and endoscopic parameters predictive of clinically significant portal hypertension in patients with liver cirrhosis.
Patients with clinically significant portal hypertension allocated to implantation of a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) at the Department of Medicine II of the University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany will be offered to participate in this prospective observational trial. Clinical and laboratory as well as outcome parameters will be assessed before and within the first 12 months after TIPS implantation following a regular follow-up schedule with clinical visits at the University Medical Center Freiburg. During follow-up visits, serum/plasma samples and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) are collected and stored in a associated biobank.
Clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH) is defined as Hepatic Venous Pressure gradient (HVPG) >10 mmHg. Patients with CSPH are at risk of developing esophageal varices and clinical decompensation (variceal bleeding, ascites, jaundice, encephalopathy), which mark the transition from compensated stage to a stage of the disease (decompensated) associated with higher mortality. HVPG is calculated by subtracting the free hepatic venous pressure (FHVP), a measure of systemic pressure, from the wedged hepatic venous pressure (WHVP), a measure of hepatic sinusoidal pressure. HVPG is surrogate marker in many clinical applications such as gold standard test to evaluate presence and severity of portal hypertension (PHT) diagnosis, risk stratification, monitoring of the patients on beta blockers. Non-selective beta-blockers like propranolol and carvedilol are indicated in adults for primary and secondary prophylaxis of variceal hemorrhage. Acute hemodynamic response to intravenous propranolol with HVPG values coming down to < 12 mm Hg or reduction to >20% from baseline have been shown to be associated with reduced long-term risk of variceal bleed. Portal Hypertension in biliary atresia (BA) occurs early and is due to recurrent cholangitis and portal sclerosis. HVPG in children is feasible and safe in children according to previous studies, however, there are no recommendations to suggest beta-blockers based on HVPG reduction in children. Hence, we are planning the current work to study the acute hemodynamic response to carvedilol in children with CSPH, and to compare the HVPG values in children with chronic liver disease.
This study aims to evaluate the impact of non-invasive CT-based Hepatic Venous Pressure Gradient (HVPG) assessment on prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE).
The purpose of this study is to discuss the prognostic value of CEPH among HCC patients underwent TACE treatment, its impact on overall survival, and try to stratify patient cohorts for a better treatment strategy.
The worldwide obesity epidemic has led to an increase in the proportion of patients with chronic liver disease due to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and in the prevalence of obesity in patients with cirrhosis of all etiologies. The reported prevalence of obesity in patients with cirrhosis is of 30% which appears similar to that of the general population. Bariatric surgery is currently considered as the most effective and durable means for the management of morbid obesity as it is associated with the remission and/or improvement of many obesity associated comorbidities as well as improved quality and expectancy of life. However, the surgical risk is increased compared to individuals without cirrhosis, and determining the risk/benefit ratio of bariatric surgery in the setting of cirrhosis is a complex task further hampered by the lack of randomized controlled trials. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample study reported a slightly increased rate of mortality of bariatric surgery in the setting of compensated cirrhosis compared to individuals without cirrhosis (0.9% vs 0.3%). Interestingly, this risk was as high as 16.3% in individuals with decompensated cirrhosis (16.3%). However, this study has been published more than 10 years ago and the mortality of bariatric surgery has decreased significantly and is around 0.1%. Furthermore, the introduction of transient elastography in clinical practice has allowed the early identification of patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) at risk of developing clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH). A few series including a limited number of patients have been published indicating that CSPH should not be considered as a formal contraindication for bariatric surgery. This study is meant to assess the outcomes of bariatric surgery in patients with morbid obesity and compensated advanced chronic liver disease (cACLD) (currently synonymous of the term "compensated cirrhosis'') associated with clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH) in a large multicentric, multinational series.
Portal hypertension (PH) is a group of syndromes characterized by abnormal changes in the portal blood flow system, mostly caused by cirrhosis. It is an important factor affecting the clinical prognosis of cirrhotic patients, and its severity determines the occurrence and development of cirrhotic complications. Clinically, measurement of portal venous pressure directly is highly invasive, and factors such as intra-abdominal pressure changes can interfere with the results, limiting its clinical application. Hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) is the gold standard for assessing PH in cirrhosis. The normal range of HVPG is 3~5 mmHg, and HVPG ≥5 mmHg indicates the presence of PH. AASLD stated that HVPG ≥10 mmHg is defined as clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH), and the risk of decompensation events is significantly increased at this stage. However, HVPG is an invasive test, which is unacceptable to some patients, such as being expensive, difficult to repeat, and poor patient compliance. Non-invasive tests for PH include serological tests, anatomical imaging and combination models. Imaging evidence of portal collateral circulation or hepatic blood flow in the portal venous system based on ultrasound Doppler, CT or magnetic resonance imaging techniques can assist to diagnose PH. In addition, elastography techniques such as transient elastography, point shear wave elastography, two-dimensional shear wave elastography and magnetic resonance elastography can be used to measure liver stiffness and spleen stiffness to assess PH. Some biochemical markers are also considered as non-invasive tests for PH. However, the available biomarkers are not yet a substitute for the HVPG accurately, and therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of biomarkers associated with HVPG in clinical practice. Metabolomics is a method to analyze the concentrated changes of endogenous small molecule metabolites under the combined effect of genetic, biological and environmental factors with the help of various high-throughput technologies. Metabolites are at the end of the biological information flow, and their changes are the ultimate expression of the information from the coordinated action of each group, objectively reflecting the overall changes of the organism. Currently, metabolomics techniques have been widely used in screening biomarkers of liver diseases. Wang et al. applied GC-TOF/MS and UPLC-QTOF/MS to study the urinary metabolomics of patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis and showed that α-hydroxymaurolate, tyrosine-betaine, 3-hydroxyisovaleric acid, knife-serine succinate, estrone and GUDCA were significantly altered in different Child-Pugh grades of cirrhosis, suggesting that these metabolites are potential biomarkers to identify different pathological stages of cirrhosis. Therefore, metabolomics is a reliable and valid tool for biomarker discovery. In conclusion, this study analyzed significantly altered metabolites in patients with hepatitis B cirrhosis using metabolomics to explore potential differential metabolites that are highly correlated with HVPG. Further, serological biomarkers were identified as an alternative to HVPG testing through model construction and validation.