Active clinical trials for "Hepatic Insufficiency"

Acute Liver Failure in children is associated with high mortality without liver transplantation. In addition, donor organ shortage makes it difficult to provide this treatment to every potential patient. Liver transplantation is life-saving but it carries the risk of major surgery and complications from lifelong anti-rejection drugs to suppress the immune system. If bridged across the immediate crisis following acute liver failure, the immense regenerative potential of the liver means that the patient's own liver may 're-grow'. This period is very time sensitive. Unfortunately, if the vital synthetic and detoxification function of the liver is not provided, the patient will often die before the liver can re-grow. Transplantation of liver cells (hepatocytes) can provide this 'bridge' with considerable advantages over whole organ transplantation. Firstly, hepatocytes are derived from donor livers which are otherwise unsuitable for transplantation. Secondly, unlike whole organs, they can be frozen and stored, thus act as an 'off the shelf' treatment. Thirdly, the technique of hepatocyte transplantation within microbeads coated with alginate (a gel originating from seaweed) and infused into the abdominal cavity is much less invasive than liver transplantation. Finally, the alginate protects the cells against the body's immune system, avoiding the need for immunosuppressive drugs and the associated major risks. Furthermore, preclinical work in King's College Hospital has shown that the addition of support cells called mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), can significantly improve the ability of hepatocytes to survive and function within the alginate microbead. The HELP trial is a Phase 1/2 safety and tolerability study of infusion of HMB002 (an optimal combination of hepatocytes and mesenchymal stromal cells put together in peptide-alginate microbeads) into paediatric patients with acute liver failure. This novel cellular therapy may act as a bridge treatment to liver transplant or lead to regeneration of the native liver.

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.

Various neurotransmitters may share in the pathogenesis of hepatic and renal itching. Skin microbiota may share in the pathogenesis of pruritus.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most important factors associated with increased mortality in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (AoCLF). Early identification and treatment of this subgroup of patients may improve survival and decrease ICU length of stay. As kidney ischemia is one of the main mechanisms responsible for AKI in AoCLF, an increase in urinary to arterial partial pressure of oxygen may help in the early diagnosis of renal failure. For this arterial and urinary oxygen pressure will be measured at ICU admission, on day 1 and day 3 of ICU stay. Diagnosis of AKI within the first 28 days after ICU admission will be recorded

This observational study evaluates the concentration of immune protein S100A8/A9 in different liver failure syndromes, its interaction with the immune system and validity as an immunotherapeutic target to improve survival in patients with advanced cirrhosis and/or acute on chronic liver failure.

Management of ACLF is mainly supportive. The poor outcomes lead physicians to consider liver transplantation as an option, even if controversial. In sicker recipients, LT results in immediate survival, but poor medium-term survival rates in some studies. The scarcity of deceased donors obliges to maximize LT success. Alternative strategies, as living-donor LT, should be explored. LDLT has impressive results in Eastern centers, but it is restrained in Western countries, due to potential life-threatening complications in the donor.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of moderate or severe liver impairment on the drug levels of oral azacitidine and the safety and tolerability of oral azacitidine in participants with myeloid malignancies.

Patients with compensated chronic liver disease who have an episode of acute deterioration of liver function (acute-on-chronic liver failure) are known to have up to 90% mortality rate. Hepa Wash(R) is a newly developed liver and renal support system that is based on the use of recycled albumin dialysate. The new system has shown a high detoxification capacity in in-vitro and preclinical studies. The aim of the study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the Hepa Wash system in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure in the intensive care unit.

Critically-ill patients with liver disease are at high risk of developing sarcopenia and intensive care unit (ICU)-acquired weakness, which are associated with mortality and other poor outcomes. Early physical rehabilitation has shown benefit in ICU settings, but has not been studied in ICU patients with acute and chronic liver failure. Cycle ergometry, or stationary cycling in passive and active modes, may be especially beneficial to such patients due to their high prevalence of severe physical deconditioning and variable mentation. The aim of this study is to examine the feasibility, safety, and benefit of cycle ergometry over standard physical and occupational therapy (PT/OT) in critically-ill patients who have acute or chronic liver disease.

This is a prospective double-blind randomized phase II clinical trial, with two groups of intervention (one with administration of N-acetylcysteine and the other with administration of methylprednisolone), and one group of placebo. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of N-acetylcysteine and Methylprednisolone in the modulation of warm ischemia of the liver during hepatic resection. In fact to avoid massive blood loss in liver surgery, continuous or intermittent vascular clamping of the hepatic hilum ('Pringle maneuver') is generally used with good results. However, as a consequence, ischemia and subsequent reperfusion result in complex metabolic, immunological, and microvascular changes, which together might contribute to hepatocellular damage and dysfunction. This phenomenon, known as ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury of the liver, is a complex multi-path process leading to the activation of some inflammatory pathways. Any patient candidate to liver resection will be enrolled in the study based on the aforementioned criteria. The primary objective of the study is to assess the real efficacy of Methylprednisolone and N-acetylcysteine in reducing the secondary damage from ischemia reperfusion injury in liver resection and in reducing inflammatory response. Secondary objective of the study is whether the reduction of ischemia-reperfusion injury results in: lower incidence of postoperative liver failure, improvement of postoperative liver function, and reduction of blood components transfusions. The randomization will be done the day before the operation. The drugs will be prepared in a blind fashion by the hospital pharmacy. The hospital pharmacy will provide to each patient a drip to make bolus of about an hour before the start of the liver resection and a syringe pump for an infusion of approximately 6 hours. If the patient is enrolled and randomized in the placebo arm, he/she will receive 250 ml of glucose 5% plus the infusion of 100 ml of glucose 5% If the patient is randomized in the Methylprednisolone arm, he/she will receive a dose of 500 mg in 250 ml of glucose 5% plus 100 mg of glucose 5%. If the patient is randomized in the N-acetylcysteine arm, he/she will receive a dose of 150 mg/kg in 250 ml of glucose 5% plus N-acetylcysteine 50 mg/kg in 100 ml glucose 5%. Systematic sampling of liver function tests will be done the day before the operation, at the end of the operation, as well as in postoperative day 1, 3, 5 and 7.