Active clinical trials for "Fibrosis"

Patients of cirrhosis aged 18 to 75 years who have no esophageal varices will be enrolled. After baseline evaluation, the participants will be randomized to receive either Placebo or Carvedilol 12.5 mg BD. After randomization they will be followed up for one year.

Apart from Fibrotest, non-invasive markers have been validated only for chronic hepatitis C. However as for chronic C hepatitis, non invasive tests (Fibrotest and transient elastometry) are already used in current practice. The aim of this study is to validate the diagnostic value of FIBROSCAN by comparison with liver histology. FIBROSCAN will be also compared to Fibrotest and FIBROSCAN-Fibrotest association to each test alone in order to optimize this diagnostic strategy. Studied variables will be significant fibrosis (≥ 2 in the METAVIR score) and presence of cirrhosis (score : F4). Diagnostic values of the scores will be expressed by sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and ROC curves. Areas under ROC curve of the scores will be compared using Z test.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether losartan, an angiotensin II blocker prevents the sodium retention in patients with liver cirrhosis and by that reduces the fluid retention. Moreover is the purpose to asses whether losartan is antifibrotic.

Scientist have begun to realize that many types of bacteria often live together as a complex community, and the investigators wish to apply that idea to the bacteria in the respiratory system of people with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). It is possible that the survival of the many millions of bacteria in the CF lung depends on the production of special chemicals that might be made only by very few types of bacteria. If that is true, medicines that interfere with those chemicals could treat the lung infections that cause trouble for nearly all people with CF. The investigators wish to study the production of several potentially critical chemicals by the respiratory bacteria and to examine the effect of those chemicals on the makeup of the entire community of bacteria. To detect all the bacteria in that community, the investigators will use new methods that use bacterial genetic information and can detect hundreds of different types of bacteria in respiratory samples of individual CF patients.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether 5 - methyltetrahydrofolate and vitamin B12 supplementation can ameliorate cell plasma membrane features in pediatric patients with cystic fibrosis

Life expectancy of patients with cystic fibrosis has improved dramatically the last few years. Respiratory complications remain the main contributory factor to the morbidity and mortality associated with the disease. Exercise tolerance is reduced as the disease progresses, and peak aerobic capacity seems to be linked with survival. Regular physical activity has positive benefits, including a better body image, an improvement of pulmonary function, of exercise capacity and a possible improvement of quality of life.But because of the considerable variability of the subjects, exercise programs should be tailored to individual needs, and easy included in their cumbersome treatment routines and professional activities. In the cystic fibrosis center of Strasbourg we are able to propose to the patients a one-year physical exercise program, partly supervised with coaches, at home. Electronically braked cycle ergometer and heart rate monitoring system are at patients disposal, for one year, at home. Thus, patients can choose, during the day, the best moment to work out .Subjects will be randomised in two groups:1. a control group, where subjects are asked to continue their normal daily activities and physiotherapy regime.2. a training group, where subjects are asked to exercise three times a week. For the training group, three times a week, patients will train for 30 minutes. Heart rate will be continuously monitored and send to the medical staff every week-end . A correction of exercise intensity, if needed, is weekly proposed to maintain a maximal training efficiency, and coaches can help them, if necessary. For the two groups, quality of life will be measured with a disease-specific questionnaire (CFQ14+) (Henry, 1998, Quittner, 2000), and a generic questionnaire (SF 36) (Gee, 2002) before the program, and after 6 and 12 months. After a one year training program, and compared to the control group, we should expected an improvement in aerobic capacity and peak oxygen consumption, both associated with improved prognosis in cystic fibrosis. We also expected to observe an improvement in quality of life measurement, shorter hospital stays and fewer exacerbations. With this kind of program, we also would like to improve the degree of adherence in daily life exercise.

Assess potential risk for NSF in subjects with renal impairment (moderate) post magnevist injection. Subjects will be screened within 48 hours of previously scheduled MRI, those meeting the enrollment criteria will be enrolled prior to MRI and followed for 2 years post MRI with visits occuring at 1yr and 2 yr timepoints, in addition follow-up phone calls conducted at 1, 3, 6 and 18 months to assess for skin changes suggestive of NSF.

The purpose of our prospective study was to evaluate the value of Doppler parameters and compare the diagnostic accuracy of Doppler parameters with various biochemical indices in predicting significant hepatic fibrosis (≥ F2) and cirrhosis (F4) in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients.

People with cystic fibrosis (CF) often develop chronic pulmonary infections which are caused by a variety of organisms, the most predominant being Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Antibiotics are important in managing CF lung infections. Antibiotic use in CF was altered about ten years ago with the approval of inhaled tobramycin, an aminoglycoside which is effective in treating P. aeruginosa. A decade later, CF clinicians are increasingly concerned about the likelihood of induction of aminoglycoside-resistance with prolonged use of inhaled tobramycin to treat chronic P. aeruginosa airway infections. The goal of this study is to examine the current microbiology and susceptibility of organisms from CF sputum, correlate it with antibiotic use, and compare it with previous data.

To map the gene (or genes) for familial pulmonary fibrosis.