Active clinical trials for "End Stage Liver Disease"

It has been identified that impaired liver function, as occurs in patients with liver cirrhosis, prevents proper conjugation of glucuronic acid with bilirubin; as a result, unconjugated bilirubin accumulates in the blood, and conjugated bilirubin is markedly altered to form diglucuronides or monoglucuronides. However, in the development and progress of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) there is not enough information about these processes and the possible concentration levels that they can take. Also Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a reversible complication, but with a high mortality rate in patients with acute or chronic liver failure, as well as a consequence of the formation of portosystemic shunts.

There is very little data related to the natural history of disease from covert HE (MHE and grade 1 HE) to overt HE (grades II, III and IV) in ACLF, with implications on long-term neurological recovery after an episode of overt HE. The evolution and pathogenesis of HE is well described in ALF and cirrhosis, but the dynamic changes in HE in ACLF in response to therapy such as ammonia reduction measures, antibiotics to target sepsis and inflammation, measures to alter dysbiosis such as probiotics or fecal microbiota transplant, and measures to target immune dysfunction such as steroids in alcohol-associated hepatitis. The central role of ammonia in the pathogenesis of HE in ACLF has been challenged by recent data. The approach to HE in ACLF has now refocused on systemic and neuro-inflammation, gut dysbiosis, immune dysregulation, and multi-omics approach. Most importantly, the modulation of the metabolome in response to therapy and interventions, and the use of sedatives, paralytic agents, antibiotics etc. in ACLF with HE in a real-world setting has not been reported.

In critically ill patients with liver disease like cirrhosis or ACLF, fluid therapy needs to be instituted after identification of patients who will be fluid responsive and initiate appropriate inotropes early to prevent the mortality associated with fluid overload. The parameters and methodology used for assessing fluid responsiveness have been studied earlier, but the optimum method is not established. Existing recommendations based on data regarding fluid responsiveness and choice of fluid for resuscitation from intensive care units in general cannot be applied to those with liver disease as the hemodynamic alterations that occur with liver disease, presence of hypoalbuminemia at baseline and presence of cardiac dysfunction interfere with the conventional methods of fluid status assessment, fluid responsiveness as well as the response to different types of resuscitation fluids. Therefore the investigators attempt to compare various methods to estimate current intravascular volume status of patient which could be helpful in guiding fluid therapy.

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of exercise on sarcopenia and frailty. The exercise that will be performed in this study will include either pulmonary rehabilitation or a formal home based video strengthening program

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether early integration of palliative care in the care of hospitalized patients with advanced liver disease (AdvLD) can improve patients' quality of life, physical symptoms, mood, and serious illness communication. Palliative care is a medical specialty focused on lessening (or "palliating") symptoms and assisting in coping with serious illness.

HBV-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a clinical syndrome defined as acute hepatic insult with diagnosed or undiagnosed chronic liver disease. Current clinical guidelines advocate oral antiviral treatment in HBV-related ACLF. However, no conclusion on which nucleoside analogue is the most satisfactory drug for the treatment of HBV-related liver failure has not been reached yet. In this cohort study, the investigators will compare the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of tenofovir alafenamide (TAF), Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (TDF) and entecavir (ETV) in HBV-related ACLF in China. In addition, the drug metabolism characteristics of TAF will be explored in such severe liver injury population of HBV-ACLF.

This study is to investigate MER receptor tyrosine kinase (MERTK) signalling cascade on monocytes and tissue macrophages in respect to innate immune function of the cells in patients with cirrhosis at different stages of disease (Child A, B, C, acute decompensation, acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF)) and in comparison to patients with acute liver failure and to healthy controls.

The project is essential to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in patients with Chronic Liver Disease (CLD). The impact has been felt due to direct risk of COVID infection in self, or in caregivers, lack of access to services during lockdown, interruptions in transplant listing and waitlist mortality. Briefly, the following points will be focused during the study. Long haul COVID-19 related symptoms. Impact on health and delay in interventions or drug therapy due to interruption of physical outpatient services. Impact on emergency admissions due to refractory ascites, new decompensation, variceal bleeding etc Impact on delayed transplant listing and waitlist mortality Impact on post-transplant patients with lack of access to drug monitoring/ physical OPD Impact on delay in interventions due to hepatobiliary malignancy. Effects of COVID-19 infection, vaccination (single dose, two doses) and no vaccination and protective antibody levels in patients with chronic liver disease and post-transplant recipients. Determination of dose protocol and need for booster vaccination in patients with CLD and post liver transplant recipients.

ACLF is a syndrome characterized by rapid deterioration of liver function in chronic liver disease or undiagnosed chronic liver disease, with a high risk of short-term death. Both CMA and EASL mentioned that there is currently lack of specific drugs and treatment of liver failure. For patients with ACLF who are still graded as 2 or 3 after active medical treatment and/or artificial liver therapy, and the CLIF-C score is less than 64 points, it is recommended to perform liver transplantation as soon as possible within 28 days. Early liver transplantation is crucial for improving the prognosis of ACLF, reducing the risk of postoperative infection, progression from early ACLF to late ACLF, and further improving the 1-year post-transplant survival. The current priority for liver allocation based on MELD-Na can't give priority to liver donor matching to ACLF 1-2. Therefore, expanding the donor liver pool is an urgent need for early treatment of patients with ACLF. France team reviewed the development of APOLT to RAPID technology in liver transplantation for liver cirrhosis. Among them, 9 cases underwent two-step hepatectomy (including 5 cases of orthotopic assisted liver transplantation and 4 cases of RAPID surgery), 8 patients survived until the end of follow-up. Based on the experience of clinical practice, our center proposes and designs a clinical study of sequential adult left lateral lobe liver transplantation (SALT) for the treatment of early ACLF (Grade 1 and 2). On the basis of APOLT and RAPID, the safety and efficacy of sequential adult left lateral lobe liver transplantation were evaluated for the above patients.

Cirrhosis of the liver is a common clinical chronic progressive liver disease, which is a diffuse liver lesion caused by one or more causes over a long period of time or repeatedly. Nodules, abnormal spherical areas of cells, form as dying liver cells are replaced by regenerating cells. This regeneration of cells causes the liver to become hard. The potential for stem cells to differentiate into hepatocytes cells was recently confirmed. In particular, mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) transplantation has been applicated in the clinic for treat several human diseases such as liver injury and liver fibrosis displayed good tolerance and efficiency. Besides, regulatory T cells(Tregs) had been proved as an immune regualtory T cell subsets, which could reduce immune cell activation and reduce liver injury severity. The purpose of this study is to learn whether and how MSCs and Tregs can improve the disease conditions in patients with decompensated cirrhosis.