View clinical trials related to Cirrhosis.
Filter by:This trial is being done to see if the investigational drug, LdT (Telbivudine), is safe and effective in the treatment of hepatitis B infection. In addition to this, we will be looking at the comparison of the effects (good and bad) of LdT and lamivudine.
The primary purpose of this study is to determine if peginterferon alpha-2a maintenance therapy (90 mcg/week) will lower portal pressure in patients with hepatitis C virus infections and advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis.
Patients with cirrhosis have a altered cardiac response to stress. This study evaluate the cardiac response by MRI during dobutamine stress. Hypothesis: impared increase in cardiac output, cardiac index, ejection fraction.
The purpose of this study is to determine the safety and efficacy of the Oridion Breath ID machine in monitoring liver metabolic functions.
The main end point of the study is to assess survival in cirrhotic patients with refractory ascites treated by TIPS (using PTFE covered stents) vs patients treated by paracentesis + albumin infusion.
In patients with cirrhosis and liver failure, pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF alpha) might be responsible of severe complications and death. Thus, the prevention of cytokine production should prevent complications and mortality. The aim of this study is to study the 2 months survival rate in patients with severe cirrhosis (Child-Pugh C) with pentoxifylline - an inhibitor of cytokine production. The 6 month mortality, the proportion of transplanted patients, the occurrence of complications (bacterial infection, renal failure, hepatic encephalopathy and gastrointestinal bleeding), plasma cytokine levels and fibrotest - a marker of fibrosis - will be also studied. This is a multicenter double blind randomized trial with a placebo. All adult patients with severe cirrhosis might be randomized after written consent. Patients with severe carcinoma, intolerance or contraindication to pentoxifylline will not be included. Patients receive either pentoxifylline or placebo 3 times a day for 6 months. Three hundred and forty two patients are necessary to decrease mortality rate by 50% at 2 months in a beta risk of 10% and an alpha risk of 5%. Patients will be seen every month.
This trial is conducted in Asia and Europe. The trial is planned to investigate the effectiveness and safety of NovoSeven® in patients with advanced cirrhosis and active variceal bleeding.
This study will examine the effectiveness of the FibroScan device in differentiating fibrosis in patients with hepatitis B and C. The FibroScan measures liver stiffness and will be correlated to the liver biopsy to see if it can diagnose the stage of liver disease. Patients who are scheduled to have a liver biopsy will also have a fibroscan and the stiffness will be correlated with the biopsy stage.
Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) present in cirrhotic patients induces severe circulatory dysfunction, which results in renal failure in up to 30% of the patients. Renal failure is an important prognostic marker, representing the major predictive factor of in-hospital mortality. Recent studies have shown that plasma volume expansion with albumin associated with cefotaxime in patients with SBP is more efficient to prevent renal failure than cefotaxime treatment alone. The in-hospital and three-month mortality rates, furthermore, were significantly lower in the group treated with albumin. It is not known if other bacterial infections unrelated to SBP represent a risk factor for the development of renal failure among cirrhotic patients. The researcher's group has recently performed a study to evaluate the incidence, characteristics and outcome, of renal failure in patients with cirrhosis and bacterial infections unrelated to SBP associated with the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (Terra, unpublished results). Among a total of 106 patients, 29 (27%) presented renal failure during the course of infection. Renal failure was characterized by intense renal vasoconstriction (intrarenal resistive index of 0.83 +/- 0.09, measured by Doppler ultrasound), reduction of mean arterial pressure and an important activation of endogenous vasoconstriction systems. The three-month survival probability of patients with infection and renal failure was 34 %, much lower than that of patients with infection but not presenting renal failure (87%, p<0.0001). These results suggest that the development of renal failure in patients with cirrhosis and bacterial infections different from SBP, associated with signs of a systemic inflammatory response, is very frequent and results in a very poor prognosis. Taken as a whole, these data strongly indicate the need to consider these patients as candidates for liver transplantation and to plan strategies for its prevention. The objective of this project, therefore, is to evaluate if the plasma volume expansion with albumin, associated with conventional antibiotic therapy, can prevent the development of renal failure and increase survival rates in cirrhotic patients with bacterial infections unrelated to spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.
The goal of this research agenda is to improve the quality of end-of-life care by explicitly identifying values that will guide the decision-making process, with a particular emphasis on the role of ethnic, racial and cultural factors.