View clinical trials related to Portal Hypertension.
Filter by:The purpose of this study is to determine whether taking Rifaximin (Xifaxan) in conjunction with the use of nutritional concepts is effective in improving morbidity and quality of life in cirrhotic patients suffering from hepatic encephalopathy (HE).
It is a cohort to evaluate the power of different diagnostic tests in predicting the prognosis of patients with severe liver disease. Patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis on the waiting list for liver transplantation will be evaluated with comparison of different diagnostic tests according to the MELD score (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease), MELD-Na (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease and sodium), indocyanine green clearance test, hepatic venous pressure gradient and transient elastography. All patients will be submitted to all the tests and prospectively followed for 6 months, to establish mortality and complications related to liver disease in order to define the value of each method to predict outcomes.
Death from chronic liver disease has doubled in the UK over the last decade. This is largely due to the rise in liver disease from excess alcohol consumption, obesity related fatty liver disease and hepatitis B & C infections. The current 'liver tests' only identify liver injury when the damage is at an advanced stage. They neither estimate the degree of injury accurately nor help judge prognosis. The complications from chronic liver disease result mainly from raised pressures within the liver. We currently measure this pressure by passing a long catheter through the jugular vein in the neck into the liver. This invasive test does carry a small yet significant risk of complications and is not available outside specialised liver centres. Raised pressure within the liver is also associated with changes in the microorganisms within the gut. This leads to increased infective complications among patients with liver cirrhosis. We aim to noninvasively measure the pressures within the liver using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). We will recruit 49 patients with chronic liver disease who have had liver pressure measurements as part of their routine clinical assessment. The participants will attend the Biomedical Research Unit and the MR Centre for a single 2hour visit. We will also collect blood, urine and stool samples from them. The diagnostic accuracy of the quantitative MRI techniques will be validated against the pressures obtained via the invasive test. The quantitative MRI techniques will also correlated with biomarkers of liver injury obtained from blood and urine samples. The stool sample obtained will be used to characterise the gut microorganisms in these patients.
Background: In patients with cirrhosis on secondary prevention of variceal rebleeding with non-selective beta-blockers (NSBBs), the risk of rebleeding and death is markedly higher in those failing to achieve a good hemodynamic response (HVPG reduction ≥20% of baseline values or ≤12mmHg). However a substantial proportion of non-responders will never rebleed, thus appearing protected by NSBBs although non-detected by HVPG response. This low sensitivity hampers risk stratification and diminishes the cost-effectiveness of assessing the hemodynamic response to NSBBs. This is particularly relevant in prevention of rebleeding since in this scenario the risk of rebleeding and of other portal hypertension related complications is very high, which calls for early institution of effective therapy. Baseline HVPG bears prognostic significance with regards to risk of developing varices, decompensation, hepatocellular carcinoma and death1,2,7,8,18-27. However, no studies have investigated whether adding data from baseline HVPG may improve the sensitivity of the criteria defining a good or poor hemodynamic response. Hypothesis: Adding data from baseline HVPG may improve the sensitivity of the criteria defining a good or poor hemodynamic response. Objective: Exploring the prognostic value of basal HVPG that better discriminate those non-responders who do not re-bleed under prophylactic treatment with NSBBs. Methods: Observational cohort study. Training set: patients from two longitudinal studies conducted at the Hepatic Hemodynamic laboratory of the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona to assess the prognostic value of HVPG changes during continuous therapy with NSBBs for preventing variceal rebleeding. Validation set for chronic hemodynamic response: patients from two longitudinal studies conducted at the Hepatic Hemodynamic laboratory of the Hospital de Sant Pau of Barcelona to assess the prognostic value of HVPG changes during continuous therapy with NSBBs for preventing variceal rebleeding; a third cohort composed of patients undergoing acute hemodynamic response to intravenous propranolol will be studied. All patients received a preplanned follow-up in the outpatient clinic at 1, 3, and 6 months, and every 6 months thereafter in the original studies. End-point: bleeding from portal hypertensive sources (esophago-gastric varices or portal hypertensive gastropathy) (defined according to Baveno criteria 32), death or liver transplantation. Ethical aspects: All patients have given their written informed consent to use their data in the original studies.
This study will evaluate the antiviral efficacy of combination therapy with sofosbuvir (SOF) plus ribavirin (RBV) for 48 weeks in adults with compensated and decompensated chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Approximately 50 adults will be randomized (1:1) to receive study drug for 48 weeks or take part in an untreated observational arm for the first 24 weeks followed by study drug for another 48 weeks.
The aim of this diagnostic study is to evaluate the efficacy of ARFI imaging (a specific type of ultrasound) in assessing the pressure of the portal vein (the major vein passing through the liver) and the amount of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease.
Recent studies indicate that probiotics can stimulate intestinal immunity and tighten the junctions of epithelial cells. By these ways, probiotics can reduce bacterial translocation; hence, they can ameliorate systemic inflammatory status. Because cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension often suffer from infections from intestinal flora, the investigators speculate that probiotics will be beneficial to those patients.
In recent years, the safety and efficacy of autologous bone marrow stem cells infusion (ABMSCi) therapy were confirmed. The investigators attempted to infuse autologous bone marrow stem cells (ABMSC) through inserting a catheter into right gastric artery as far as proper hepatic artery after finishing open abdominal portal hypertension surgery. The present study was designed to treat bleeding from esophageal varices and hypersplenism and hopefully to improve the liver function as well.
The portal hypertension (PHT) is the main complication in patients presenting with cirrhosis. It can be the direct cause of bleeding by rupture of the esophageal or gastric varices and can also contribute to the development of ascites, hepatic encephalopathy and pleuropulmonary complications. In the paediatric population presenting with the PHT, one of every two children develops varices and thus has a significant risk of bleeding. Safe and easy to use, the video capsule endoscopy (VCE) is now routinely used in children for the exploration of the small bowel. But the role of the VCE for examination of the other parts of digestive tract still needs to be evaluated. For the esophagus, the VCE could allow the diagnosis without the need of general sedation. Recent studies have shown a good sensitivity and tolerance of this technique for the initial diagnosis of esophageal varices (EV) in adult patients presenting with portal hypertension, but it has not yet been validated for this indication. The investigators hypothesize that the VCE could be used in children with similar results in term of efficacy, as for adults. This prospective simple blind multicentre study (blind for the lecture of the capsule endoscopy record), will investigate the diagnostic value of the VCE compared to the conventional esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) under general sedation for the detection and the control of esophageal varices in children. If it is provided that the VCE is as efficient as it is for the adults, it could become a very interesting alternative to the conventional EGD because less expensive and less invasive. Moreover, this technique would be very useful as a means of early detection on the EV and/or their control.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether sapropterin (an oral analogue of tetrahydrobiopterin) could have a role in the treatment of portal hypertension secondary to liver cirrhosis. Sapropterin or placebo will be given for two weeks in patients with liver cirrhosis and clinically significant portal hypertension. Systemic and hepatic hemodynamics studies will be performed at baseline and after the intervention to assess the effect of sapropterin.