Active clinical trials for "Liver Diseases"

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease in developed countries affecting approximately 30 % of the general adult population. It represents an important pathogenic factor in the development of type 2-diabetes and is associated with a high risk of cardiovascular disease. Previous studies of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have demonstrated an increased risk for NAFLD and the presence of both CKD and NAFLD is likely to increase the risk for cardiovascular disease. The present protocol describes a study of the prevalence and etiology of NAFLD among patients scheduled for kidney transplantation and the possible effect of kidney transplantation on NAFLD. The project is a prospective cohort study. The effect of kidney transplantation in patients with prediabetes or normal glucose tolerance compared to healthy controls will be examined regarding development and progression of fat accumulation in the liver. Fat accumulation in the liver will be determined by magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy and the prevalence of NAFLD in the two groups will be investigated. A continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) for four days, Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) scanning, fibro scanning of the liver, bile acid analysis, metabolomic and lipidomic analysis will also be performed. An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and an intra venous glucose infusion (IIGI) will be performed.

The study will assess the effect of treatment with formulation containing S-Adenosyl methionine and choline, on patients with alcoholic liver disease. Half of the patients included will receive named formulation once daily for 24 weeks while other half will receive placebo.

To investigate the synergic therapeutic effect of thiazolidinediones and SGLT2 inhibitor on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, the effect of empagliflozin 10mg, pioglitazone 15mg monotherapy and combination therapy n patients with type 2 diabetes and fatty liver will be compared and analyzed. This study included a total of 60 patients (20 per subgroup) for randomized controlled trials with prospective, open label, randomized, single-institution clinical trials. The drug will be maintained for a total of six months. The primary endpoint is the difference of liver fat change measured by MRI-PDFF in co-localized regions of interest within nine liver segments between three groups.

Obesity is associated with a variety of co-morbidities. Children with obesity are more likely to have risk factors associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and CVD risk markers (e.g. hypertension, elevated serum cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes mellitus), but also with organ specific pathologies such as a non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). A recent meta-analysis has shown that the prevalence of NAFLD in obese pediatric populations is approximately 35%, compared to approximately 8% in general pediatric population, making it a very important health threat in these populations. Successful pharmacological interventions to treat or prevent NASH are not yet available and so far only weight loss has clear benefits. However, it is well known that sustained weight-loss is difficult to achieve on the longer-term. The investigators recently demonstrated in mice that plant sterol and stanol ester consumption inhibited the development of liver inflammation. Moreover, Javanmardi et al. recently demonstrated in a population of adult NAFLD patients, that plasma concentrations of Alanine Transaminase (ALT) were reduced after daily plant sterol consumption (1.6 g/d) for 6 weeks. In this study, the investigators propose to evaluate the effect of consuming soft chews enriched with plant stanol esters (3 grams/day) on ALT concentrations in children with overweight or (morbid) obesity who are at risk of developing NAFLD, in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double blinded study with an intervention period and follow-up period of 6 months. 52 overweight and obese children with elevated ALT concentrations (>39 U/L for boys and >33 U/L for girls) will be included. All children will be randomly allocated to consume control or plant stanol ester enriched soft chews on a daily basis for a period of 6 months. After 12 months there will be an additional blood sample to evaluate whether the 6 months intervention is still effective.

With the Westernization of the diet and insufficient exercise, Taiwan's population of obesity, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia has increased in recent years, and the prevalence of the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has gradually increased. Although weight loss, dietary adjustments, and certain drug treatments can delay the deterioration of the disease; however, weight loss and dietary adjustment are not easy.

Objectives: To examine the effects of tablets of silybum marianum, Pueraria lobate and salvia miltiorrhiza on the progression of fatty liver in patients with fatty liver. Design: a double-blinded randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial. Setting: community residents, Guangzhou city, South China. Participants: a total 118 men and women (18-65 years), with BMI range of 24-30 kg/m2, and with fatty liver screened by ultrasound or MR at baseline. Arms and Interventions: 118 participants were randomly allocated into two arms using a block randomization method. Experimental Arm: tablet of silybum marianum, Pueraria lobate and salvia miltiorrhiza, 3 tablets (1g each) twice a day for 6 months; Placebo Arm: placebo tablets, 3 tablets (1g each) twice a day for 6 months. Outcome Measures: determined at baseline and at 6 months post treatment Primary Outcome Measures: 1) proton density fat fraction of liver assessed by MR; 2) serum liver fibrosis biomarkers: type procollagen III N terminal peptide, hyaluronic acid, laminin, collagen type IV, and glycocholic acid; 3) NAFLD fibrosis score. Secondary Outcome Measures: 1) serum liver function biomarkers: AST, ALT, GGT, ALP, total protein, and bile acids; 2) fasting blood lipids: total triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol; 3) fasting serum glucose and insulin; 4) serum inflammatory factors (hsCRP and IL-6); 5) oxidative stress: SOD and MDA; and 6) body measurements and body fat mass. Data Analyses: Mean changes in the above outcome measures from baseline to 6 months will be compared between the two arms.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics of RXC007.

The objective of this research is to study the correlation between the portosystemic pressure gradient and azygos blood flow measured by MRI.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is common, may progress to cirrhosis and is predicted to become a leading indication for liver transplantation in the near future. Though often associated with obesity and the metabolic syndrome, our current understanding of disease development is limited and there are few therapeutic options. Imbalance of gut bacteria is suspected to play a key role driving the progression of fatty liver disease and there is hope manipulation of these bacteria may be beneficial. This study will determine if fecal microbiota transplantation, using stool from lean donors, is an effective and safe treatment for NASH.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is a growing public health problem affecting over 5% of the population. These patients are at increased risk of cardiovascular and liver-related death and have higher rates of malignancy. The currently standard of care is weight loss and physical exercise, with histological and analytical improvement in patients achieving a 5-10% reduction in body weight. However, less than 25% of the subjects achieve this goal. In obese patients , restrictive surgical treatments and gastric bypass have been successful in improving the metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and liver histology. Currently, less invasive and less costly endoscopic techniques are being developed. These techniques also achieve a gastric restriction with similar results than bariatric surgery. One of these is the OverStitch® system (Apollo Endosurgery, Austin, TX, USA). Our aim is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of this method in the improvement of liver histology in obese patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.