Active clinical trials for "Fibrosis"

The objective of this study is to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) transplantation via portal vein in patients with early and middle stage of liver cirrhosis on the basis of HBV infection. The evaluation of the efficacy includes the level of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase(AST), total bilirubin (TB),prothrombin time (PT), albumin (ALB), prealbumin(PA), precollagenⅢ(PCⅢ), collagenⅣ(Ⅳ-C), laminin(LN), hyaluronidase(HN), liver histological improvement before and 1 week to 1 year after transplantation. Child-Pugh scores and clinical symptoms were also observed simultaneously.

The purpose of this study is to compare propofol associated with fentanyl versus midazolam plus fentanyl for sedation during diagnosis or therapeutic upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (UGE) in cirrhotic patients.

This is a phase I clinical study to evaluate feasibility, safety and kinetics of cellular therapy with autologous bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BMMC) in patients with liver cirrhosis due to virus C hepatitis. Another aim is to study liver tissue changes induced by the BMMC presence. All the patients have moderate liver disfunction and will be submitted to a liver biopsy before BMMC injection. The cells will be labeled with 99mTc and infused through a peripheral vein. Scintigraphy will be performed 24 hours after infusion. Patients will be submitted to frequent clinical, laboratorial and image evaluation during a one-year follow-up. A second liver biopsy will be done in the 3rd month after infusion to check histological, cellular and molecular evolutive changes.

Recently it has been suggested that a restrictive transfusion of units of Red Cells (URC) may improve the outcome of ICU patients with anemia. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the transfusion of URC may be deleterious for the hemostatic process of bleeding lesions, which suggest that a restrictive transfusion may be valuable in patients which gastrointestinal bleeding. Transfusion of URC may also increase portal pressure which may be detrimental to control acute portal hypertensive bleeding. The aim of the present study is to assess whether a restrictive transfusions may improve the outcome of patients with acute nonvariceal gastrointestinal bleeding, and also whether such a restrictive strategy may improve the outcome of bleeding episodes related with portal hypertension. The study will be carried out with a prospective, randomized and controlled design comparing the restrictive transfusion strategy with the usual nonrestrictive transfusional strategy. Overall 860 patients will be included; 430 in each group. The main outcome measure will be survival. All deaths occurred within the 30 days after admission, will be considered. Secondary outcomes will include rebleeding and complications related to treatment, and related to the bleeding episode itself. Portal pressure will be measured to assess the influence of the transfusions strategy on fluctuations of this parameter, and the relationship with the clinical course of bleeding episode. The study will be performed at the Bleeding Unit of our hospital during a period of 3 years.

The three objectives of this trial are: To demonstrate that a decline in hepatic metabolic function as measured by BreathID will correlate with changes in CTP and MELD scores in patients with cirrhosis. To determine the critical value of hepatic metabolic function as measured by BreathID will predict which patients are at risk to develop complications of cirrhosis. To determine the critical value of hepatic metabolic function as measured by BreathID will predict which patients are at risk for liver related mortality. The hypothesis is that the BreathID breath test will correlate to CTP and MELD scores, and that thresholds can be established that will help predict risk of complications of cirrhosis and mortality.

The purpose of the study is to determine whether the formulations of curcumin will effect the clinical signs and symptoms and histopathological features in patients with clinical stage 2 oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF).

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fibroproliferative, irreversible disease of unknown cause, occurring mainly in patients older than 50. IPF is a rare but fatal lung disease, with an estimated prevalence of 14 to 28/100000 and a median survival time of 3 years. Acute exacerbation of IPF (AE-IPF) is a major event of IPF, as it is responsible for the death of 30-50 % of IPF patients; its annual incidence varies between 5 and 10%. The current literature indicates that IPF is associated with the development of an auto-immunity process targeting epithelial and endothelial lung cells. Autoantibodies have been associated with a poorer prognosis. A study by DONAHOE et al. (Plos One, 2015) indicates that the combination of corticosteroids, plasma exchanges, rituximab and immunoglobulins may improve the prognosis of the most severe forms of AE-IPF. In that study, the observed survival rate in patients receiving this combination of treatment was 70% as compared with 20% in historical controls. This therapeutic combination approach is designed both to eliminate and inhibit the production of circulating antibodies targeting the lungs. Considering the high mortality rate of an AE-IPF episode and the potential benefit of such an original approach, a well-conducted randomized controlled trial is critical.

Compared to nucleoside/nucleotide analogues, peginterferon alfa 2a/2b may has more therapeutic efficacy in hepatitis B surface antigen or e antigen seroconversion and anti-tumor occurrence in chronic hepatitis b patients. We design this study to investigate treatment of peginterferon alfa 2a/2b in anti-virus treatment experienced patients with HBV related liver fibrosis.

This is a single center, open label, Phase IIa, multiple-ascending dose study in which subjects with mild to moderate Cystic Fibrosis and non CF bronchiectasis (n≤12) will be enrolled. The safety and tolerability of S-1226 composed of PFOB with ascending doses of carbon dioxide (4%, 8%, and 12% CO2) administered twice daily in subjects with Cystic Fibrosis and non CF bronchiectasis will be evaluated. This will be followed by 5 day consecutive treatment using the highest tolerated dose of S1226. Participants can choose additional use of a further four weeks (28 days) of S-1226 therapy at home, using same or a lower tolerated dose.

Cirrhosis of liver is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Complications like ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, variceal bleed, hepatic encephalopathy, hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) portend a poor prognosis and further decreases survival in these patients. The major causes of cirrhosis include excessive alcohol consumption, viral hepatitis and non- alcoholic fatty liver disease. Currently the only definitive treatment option for cirrhosis is liver transplantation which is limited in its applicability due to donor shortage, exorbitant costs and lack of widespread availability. Moreover, it requires lifelong immunosuppression and has considerable long term side effects including chronic renal failure, post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease and cardiovascular complications. The ability of stem cells to differentiate into multiple cellular lineages makes one speculate that stem cells can be used for tissue repair and regeneration when tissue-resident stem cells become overwhelmed. It has been shown that in response to acute or chronic liver damage, bone marrow derived stem cells can spontaneously populate the liver and differentiate into hepatic cells, thereby contributing to hepatic regeneration. Thus, apart from hepatocytes and intrahepatic stem cells, bone marrow derived stem cells also participate in the liver regeneration process. Currently, there are two methods to mobilize stem cells from the bone marrow to the liver. One is administration of cytokines like granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) and the other is the isolation of stem cells from the marrow and their injection into the hepatic artery or portal vein after purification. The latter is probably more cumbersome and may be potentially risky due to the underlying coagulation abnormalities in cirrhotic patients. Improved liver histology and survival has been noted in patients with cirrhosis following mobilization of bone marrow stem cells by granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). Three recent studies have demonstrated G-CSF induced mobilization of bone marrow stem cells (CD34 cells) in peripheral blood and their subsequent increase in liver tissue and improved survival in patients with alcoholic hepatitis and ACLF. However, there is a paucity of data on whether G-CSF improves survival and prognosis in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Verma, Singh et al have shown in an open label trial that there was significantly better 12 month transplant free survival in ( GCSF+ Growth hormone + standard medical therapy group ) and ( G CSF + standard medical therapy group ) as compared to standard medical therapy group alone. CD 34+ cells at day 6 of therapy increased as compared to baseline. There was also a significant decrease of clinical scores, improvement in nutrition, better control of ascites, reduction in liver stiffness, lesser episodes of infection as well as improvement in QOL scores in the treatment groups having G CSF as compared to baseline. In a recent study by Newsome et al, a multicentre, open label randomized phase 2 trial, patients were randomized to standard care, treatment with subcutaneous G CSF or treatment with G CSF for 5 days followed by leukaphersis and IV infusion of CD 133 positive haematopoietic stem cells. They did not find any difference in MELD score over time in all 3 treatment groups. Serious adverse effects were more common in the G CSF groups than in standard treatment group. In a study by Kedarisetty CK et al. a significantly larger proportion of patients with decompensated cirrhosis given a combination of G-CSF & Darbopoietin α survived for 12 months more than patients given only placebo ( 68% vs. 26.9%; P = 0.001 ). The combination therapy also reduced liver severity scores and sepsis to a greater extent than placebo. In view of the conflicting results of the above studies and no studies on the use of multiple courses of GCSF in patients with decompensated cirrhosis in a double blind manner, the present study was undertaken to assess the safety and efficacy of G-CSF in patients with decompensated cirrhosis in the form of a double blinded RCT.