View clinical trials related to Ascites.
Filter by:One complication of liver disease is the buildup of fluid within the belly. This is known as ascites. Patients who have ascites have a decreased appetite, pain, nausea and shortness of breath. Ascites is typically treated with medications, however when that does not work, patients need a procedure where a needle is inserted in the belly every few weeks to drain the excess fluid. About 2 in 5 patients with ascites from liver failure can get kidney disease from their worsening liver function or from the drainage of fluid with needles. Once patients have both advanced liver disease and kidney disease, their chance of dying largely increases. The present study will be the first of its kind to study a new technique to treat ascites. Investigators are planning to place a tube in a patient's belly to drain the excessive amounts of fluid. This technique is similar to how one type of dialysis is done to treat patients with kidney failure. This study is set as a pilot investigation in order to determine the feasibility of doing a larger, randomized clinical trial investigating the use of this novel technique. Importantly, advanced liver disease patients are at high risk to develop kidney disease, and therefore are an important group to focus on. Investigators believe that this technique will prevent or slow the development of kidney disease in liver failure patients, and improve their quality of life, far more than the current available treatments.
This study seeks to determine non inferiority of direct inoculation of ascitic fluid in lab as compared to current culture media standard, bedside inoculation with blood culture bottles.
The purpose of the current study is to establish a Liquid biopsy method (positive enrichment by a novel immunomagnetic beads capture assay) for detection of malignant cell in serous effusions and to evaluate its sensitivity and specificity for clinical application.
The refractory malignant ascites is a complication of advanced stages of many cancer types. It is characterized clinically by abdominal pressure sensation, shortness of breath and pelvic pain. Thus, it contributes to decreased quality of life for these patients in palliative care. Conventional treatment is based on paracentesis of ascites. The progression of the disease leads to increased production of ascites requiring more frequent paracentesis. Main therapeutic alternatives are constituted by the controversial use of diuretics and the use of an antibody inhibiting the activity of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF): bevacizumab. Catumaxomab, a monoclonal antibody anti-EpCAM and CD3, developed for the treatment of refractory malignant ascites showed no sufficient clinical benefit. VEGF is overexpressed in many tumors. VEGF causes an increase in capillary permeability and capillary filtration surface generating increased protein extravasation. These phenomena are responsible for an increase of the volume of ascites product. Thus the use of inhibitors of VEGF, such as bevacizumab, could reduce the production of ascites. The efficacy of bevacizumab to decrease the volume of ascites product was demonstrated on small animals in intraperitoneal administration. Studies in humans are few and the doses used are not consistent from one study to another.
Massive ascites is usually controlled over several weeks pre-operatively in liver transplant recipients with the risk of encephalopathy and peritonitis. We hypothesized that intra-operative drainage of ascites will be safe and avoids the inherent risks of pre-operative drainage.
The prognosis of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (ISLA) remains a serious complication of cirrhosis. Rapid diagnosis of ISLA is a key issue for improving the prognosis. The determination of calprotectin in ascites, used for the diagnosis of infection of ascitic liquid, could allow the diagnosis in a very short time (about 30 minutes). To date, the determination of calprotectin in ascites was not evaluated properly. The investigators would thus evaluate the interest of the determination of calprotectin in ascites for the rapid diagnosis of ISLA in cirrhotic patients, like you, hospitalized for decompensation of their disease. The main purpose of this pilot study will determine the optimal threshold calprotectin in ascites for diagnosis of ISLA.
Introduction: Patients with chronic liver diseases are usually thin as a result of hypermetabolism and malnutrition expressed by reduced levels of leptin and impairment of other adyponectins such as visfatin. Aims: To evaluate the metabolic and inflammatory effects of intravenous high-dose furosemide plus hypertonic saline solutions (HSS) compared with repeated paracentesis and a standard oral diuretic schedule, in patients with cirrhosis and refractory ascites. Methods; All consecutive cirrhotic patients with refractory ascites unresponsive to outpatient treatment will be enrolled . Enrolled subjects will be randomized to treatment with intravenous infusion of furosemide (125-250mg⁄bid) plus small volumes of HSS from the first day after admission until 3 days before discharge (Group A ), or repeated paracentesis from the first day after admission until 3 days before discharge (Group B, ). Plasma levels of ANP, BNP, Leptin, visfatin, IL-1β, TNF-a, IL-6 were measured before and after the two type of treatment.
Refractory ascites is an indication for liver transplantation, and includes ascites that is resistant to, or intractable by diuretic therapy (International Ascites Club). This definition is partly subjective; it can be established only a posteriori, following diuretic therapy administration to all patients, including those in whom untoward effects are prominent; and requires prolonged follow-up. An early diagnosis of refractory ascites would avoid giving diuretic therapy to patients in whom it will fail and identify rapidly candidates to liver transplantation. Such diagnosis could be done with a pharmacokinetic (PK) study of radiolabeled albumin between the peritoneal cavity and serum.
Aims: To compare the rates of hypotension in patients with malignancy-related ascites undergoing abdominal paracentesis with and without prophylactic intravenous albumin infusion Methodology: Patients with symptomatic ascites secondary to underlying malignancy admitted to medical oncology inpatient service who require abdominal paracentesis will be enrolled. Patients with known portal hypertension based on SAAG (>11.1 mmol/L) will be excluded. Eligible patients are randomized 1:1 to two groups. During drainage of ascites fluid, one group will receive intravenous albumin infusion (50 ml/Litre of ascitic fluid drained), whereas the other group will not receive intravenous albumin infusion. Baseline parameters along with routine 4 hourly monitoring of blood pressure will be done. Episodes of hypotension (fall in SBP > 20 mmHg) will be compared between these two groups and significance tested using the chi-square test. Clinical significance: Ascites often occurs in the setting of advanced malignancy and drainage of ascites has been proven to provide symptomatic relief in this patient population with relatively short life expectancy. The use of intravenous albumin infusion is loosely extrapolated from studies in patients with liver cirrhosis undergoing abdominal paracentesis. To date, there have been no standard guidelines to guide practice and no studies looking at the use of intravenous albumin in this population. As the mechanisms of ascites are different in different malignancies, the indication of intravenous albumin is uncertain and perhaps unnecessary in this setting. We hope to understand more about the rates of hypotension during abdominal paracentesis in this population and to generate systematic data to guide clinical practice in this area.
Most patients undergoing hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) suffer from underlying liver disease and are exposed to the risk of postoperative ascites, with subsequent morbidity, liver and renal failure, the need for specific treatments and prolonged hospital stay. Postoperative ascites is favored by an imbalance between portal venous inflow and the diminished hepatic venous outflow. Finding a reversible, non-invasive method for modulating the portal inflow would be of interest: it could be used temporarily during the early postoperative course to prevent acute portal hypertension. Somatostatin, a well-known drug already used in several indications, may limit the risk of postoperative ascites and liver failure by decreasing portal pressure after hepatectomy for HCC in patients with underlying liver disease.