Active clinical trials for "Liver Cirrhosis"

A total of 80 adult chronic hepatitis B patients with advanced liver fibrosis (including fibrosis stage 3 and cirrhosis), who are currently on nucleot(s)ide analogs (except tenofovir alafenamide) therapy with detectable HBV DNA after 52 weeks of therapy will switch prior NUCs to TAF 25 mg/day for 96 weeks

COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), had caused widespread impact on health, including substantial mortality among those with pre-existing health conditions including cirrhosis. Patients with liver cirrhosis are at increased risk of severe disease and death from the virus infection that causes COVID-19 and are therefore a priority for immunization, should an efficacious vaccine be developed. Currently, there are no specific treatments available against COVID-19 and cirrhosis patients are a priority group for vaccination.

Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a frequent pulmonary complication of end-stage liver disease that is characterized by decreased arterial oxygenation caused by intrapulmonary vascular dilatation. Due to the different diagnostic criteria used in different studies, its prevalence ranges from 4% to 47% in patients with cirrhosis. Main underlaying pathogensis for HPS being activation of macrophages which are responsible for iNOS, PDGF and VEGF release contributing to development of intrapulmonary vascular dilatation(IPVD) , and neoangiogenesis leading to anatomical shunt resulting decreased oxygenation. Sphingosine 1 phosphate (S1P) is an essential compound produced and secreted by endothelial cells, platelets and RBC's. S1P prevents adhesion, transmigration and release of inflammatory mediators from macrophages. S1P levels are decreased in cirrhotics. Simvastatin, a HMG CoA inhibitor has many pleotropic effects, Of which one is by agonizing the S1P response and improving oxygenation in HPS patients. Simvastatin at a optimal dose of 40mg/day for 6months. Pre and post simvastatin treatment related oxygenation changes and concurrently its effect on liver fibrosis will be evaluated.

Surgical resection is the most effective treatment of primary and secondary liver tumors. Technical innovations have mainly focused on minimizing bleeding during transection of the hepatic parenchyma because excessive hemorrhage and the need for blood transfusion are associated with increased postoperative morbidity and mortality. Recently,radiofrequency-assisted（RFA）hepatectomy has developed rapidly and gained widespread acceptance for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinomas（HCC），but its influence on the prognosis of HCC patients，especially for those with cirrhosis，is still controversial. Therefore, we design this prospective clinical trial to explore the effect of RFA hepatectomy versus the conventional hepatectomy on the outcomes of perioperative period and prognosis of HCC patients with cirrhosis.

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.

Study hypothesis: Hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG)-directed primary prophylaxis with nonselective beta-blocker therapy (NSBB) leads to a reduction in first variceal bleeding episodes and is cost-effective in the long term. Study design: A multi-center randomized controlled study comparing nonselective beta-blocker therapy guided by the hemodynamic response as determined by the difference in HVPG before and after starting oral NSBB therapy, to standard heart rate-guided NSBB therapy in patients with esophageal varices due to liver cirrhosis without a history of esophageal variceal hemorrhage. Primary study parameters/outcome of the study: First variceal bleeding episodes occurring within the first two years. Secondary study parameters/outcome of the study: Mortality Occurrence of other cirrhosis-related complications Occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma Costs of treatments Adverse effects

HBV related Liver disease is a common medical problem in China. An estimated 7.18% of the Chinese (about 93 million) is infected with hepatitis B, and most of the HBV- related hepatitis can developed into liver cirrhosis. Liver transplantation is the only available life saving treatment for patients with end stage liver disease. However, lack of donors, surgical complications, rejection, and high cost are serious problems. In preclinical studies the investigators have demonstrated that G-CSF mobilized PBSC from patients with HBV related liver cirrhosis could differentiate into functional hepatocyte and autologous PBSC transplantation can significantly improve liver synthetic function. But further studied was needed to confirm the safety and efficacy of PBSC transplantation. In this study, a prospective, randomized, parallel clinical study was designed. The patients with HBV-related liver cirrhosis will undergo administration of human autologous PBSCs via hepatic artery to evaluate the safety and efficacy of human autologous PBSCs treatment for these patients.

The study is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of intravenous administration of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells for patients with refractory primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC).

The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether or not to perform elective surgical repair of umbilical hernias in patients with liver cirrhosis and ascites. There are no other randomized controlled trials in this area. The optimal management in patients with umbilical hernias and liver cirrhosis with ascites is not clear yet. The general surgical opinion is that umbilical hernias in patients with ascites should not be corrected because of the supposedly high operative risks and high recurrence rates. Conservative treatment, however, can have severe complications resulting in emergency repair. Such operations carry a higher risk of complications than elective operations, particularly in this group of patients. Prospective and retrospective series showed us that elective hernia repair in this specific patient group is safe without major complications or high recurrence rates. The aim of this study is to asses the optimal timing of correction of umbilical hernia in patients with liver cirrhosis and ascites.

Bacterial infections are a frequent complication in liver cirrhosis with a bad prognosis. However, the clinical outcome of cirrhotic patients with serious infections is significantly improved over the last 30 years due to early diagnosis and to the use of a more appropriate antibiotic therapy. As in the general population, empirical treatment should be initiated soon after diagnosis, after making the necessary sampling and should be based on the use of an antibiotic with low toxicity and broad spectrum antibacterial efficacy, taking into account the local epidemiology and prevalence of antibiotic resistance. The third generation cephalosporins are considered the gold standard in the treatment of most infections in cirrhotics due to their effectiveness against enterobacteriaceae and against non-enterococcal streptococci and due to their low toxicity. However, the recommendations for the antibiotic therapy are currently based on results of trials of '80s and '90s, when the proportion of resistant pathogens was lower. Similarly to nosocomial infections, the increasing rate of infections due to multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria represents the rational for a different choice of empirical antibiotic therapy with a higher resistance barrier. This change in the epidemiology of community acquired infections is mainly due to the increased contacts with healthcare system of these patients and for the larger use of antibiotic prophylaxis. With this regard, it was recently proposed to introduce a third epidemiological class of infection "Health care-associated": Infections occurring in community in patients who have been in contact with the health system shortly before the infection. This epidemiological class of infection should be distinguished from "community-acquired" because they are more similar to"nosocomial" in terms of their sensitivity to antibiotics. Therefore for this class should be taken into consideration the use of a different empirical antibiotic therapy. The investigators aim was to evaluate prospectively the effectiveness of a broad spectrum antibiotic treatment in a cohort of cirrhotic patients with "healthcare-Associated"infections Cirrhotic patients with "Healthcare Associated" admitted to the gastroenterology department of the Policlinico Umberto I and in the Department of Hepatology of the Hospital of Marino will be consecutively enrolled. Randomized controlled trial with randomisation stratified by epidemiological class of infection.