Active clinical trials for "Ascites"

Liver cirrhosis patients in Intensive Care present intra-abdominal hypertension and this is an independent risk factor for increased organ disfunction and mortality. Patients will be randomized into intermittent or continuous passive paracentesis and the clinical results of these two strategies for preventing and treating intra-abdominal hypertension will compared.

The serum albumin ascites gradient (SAAG) is a recommended tool for ascites diagnosis since values ≥1.1 g/dl are found in nearly 97% of patients with portal hypertension. However, it mislabels chronic liver disease and heart failure as the cause of ascites. Because type-B Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) is increased in several body fluids of patients with both systolic and diastolic dysfunction, it was found to be a useful marker for diagnosing heart failure and pleural effusion due to heart failure. Nevertheless, to date, the performance of BNP testing for assessing the etiology of ascites has not been examined. The current prospective study is aimed at comparing the following strategies for diagnosing heart failure as the cause of ascites: 1) SAAG plus total protein concentration in ascitic fluid (gold standard); 2) SAAG plus BNP concentration in ascitic fluid; 3) SAAG plus BNP concentration in serum; 4) serum BNP concentrations. SAAG, ascitic fluid protein concentration, serum and ascites type-B Natriuretic Peptide and echocardiography will be performed in all patients. The final diagnosis of the cause of ascites will be adjudicated by independent physicians, blinded for the results of ascitic fluid biochemistry and BNP. Patients will be divided into four groups: Heart failure, Liver cirrhosis, concurrent heart failure and liver cirrhosis (mixed) and other causes of ascites.

The forecast of the spontaneous infection of the liquid of ascites (ISLA) at the cirrhotic patient is still burdened by a heavy mortality. The fast diagnosis of the ISLA is thus an essential stake to improve the forecast. Investigators would so like to estimate the interest of the strip PeriScreen for the fast diagnosis of the ISLA at cirrhotic patients . Investigators plan to include 670 patients, what would allow to make out a will at least on ascites 2000 on about twenty centers for duration estimated of 12 months.

The project is about evaluation of albumin and midodrine versus albumin alone in outcome of refractory ascites in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is a leading cause of disability and mortality worldwide. Cirrhosis occurs in 50% of patients over 10 years. Decompensated cirrhosis carries a poor prognosis because the median survival time is about 2 years and it imposes a heavy burden on health care costs mainly due to the need for repeated hospital admission. The mortality is approximately 40% at 1 year and 50% at 2 years (12.7 per 100,000 population). A lot of times the prognosis is poor and the main factors leading to it are - AKI/HRS-NAKI, Hyponatremia, Grade of ascites-Refractory ascites, Sarcopenia, low Mean arterial pressure. Post review of the literature, it is realized that there are some gap areas - It is unknown whether combination of vasoconstrictor with albumin further decreases the need for paracentesis in patients of refractory ascites. There are no studies till date on using combination of vasoconstrictor with albumin for refractory ascites. There are no studies evaluating the prevalence and incidence of HRS-NAKI using the new definitions in patients with refractory ascites and impact of combining vasoconstrictor and albumin in improving renal outcomes in these patients.

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.

The purpose of this study is look at how treatments for ascites affect quality of life. Your quality of life is the ability for you to enjoy the normal things you do. Ascites (pronounced as-ī-tees) is the presence of extra fluid in the abdomen. Sometimes ascites is caused by cancer, also called malignancy. All people who participate in this study have ascites associated with cancer. Ascites can cause symptoms that make it difficult for the patient to do simple things. Patients with ascites often report: Abdominal swelling Difficulty walking. Difficulty breathing. Feeling full when eating. Clothes not fitting due to a swollen abdomen. Swelling in the legs. It is hoped that this catheter will relieve the symptoms of the ascites. The goal of the investigators study is to understand the quality of life before the procedure and after the procedure. Since the patient is having this procedure to make their symptoms better, the investigators want to hear from the patient of how the procedure has affected their quality of life.

This clinical trial is a retrospective single-centre study. Research data will be acquired via patient histories stored in the hospital data system. Data of patients who received a Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (TIPS) at the University Hospital Graz between 1.1.2004 and 31.12.2017 will be included into the study. The aim is to investigate the outcome (transplantation free survival, time to (re)occurrence of ascites, occurrence of hepatic encephalopathy) of patients with portal hypertension after TIPS.

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.

This is a post market surveillance registry to monitor the safety and performance of the ALFApump system.

Treatment of malignant ascites with the alfapump offers a new treatment option for this patient group. So far, there is no systematic analysis of patients with this indication available in the literature. This retrospective analysis offers the possibility to assemble already existing data within a reasonably short time frame. Based on this analysis, a prospective analysis can be designed.