Active clinical trials for "Liver Diseases"

Prolonged use of parenteral nutrition can lead to parenteral nutrition associated liver disease (PNALD). The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of treatment with a smaller amount lipid minimization) of our standard soybean oil based intravenous lipid emulsion (Intralipid) versus a fish-oil based lipid emulsion (Omegaven) in infants with severe cholestasis.

Chronic liver diseases are associated with inflammation. The investigators postulate that Vitamin D may modulate inflammation. Thus the investigators will study the effect of Vitamin D replacement in patients with Hepatitis C infection and Vitamin D deficiency.

Post-Marketing Requirement study to evaluate the safety of octaplas™ versus plasma in patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). The primary objective is to assess the incidence of hyperfibrinolysis in patients undergoing (OLT) receiving octaplas™ versus regular plasma (e.g., fresh frozen plasma and other FDA and AABB approved plasma products).

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.

The researchers will recruit patients with liver disease at Parkland Hospital. Patients will fast overnight, and the next morning will receive an oral mixture of [U-13C3]glycerol (25 mg/kg) plus unlabeled glycerol (25 mg/kg). The total dose of glycerol will be 50 mg/kg in 100 milliliters of water. The taste is slightly sweet. Blood will be drawn at 60 min and 120 min after the ingestion. Blood glucose will be isolated and analyzed by NMR. The presence of [5,6-13C2]- and [4,5-13C2]glucose indicates preserved mitochondrial function. The researchers anticipate that patients with severe liver disease will show a decrease in mitochondrial function and will inform biosynthetic function of liver mitochondria. After the first 6 successful exams (see power analysis, below), healthy volunteers (age-, gender-, and race-matched) will be studied at the AIRC and subject to the same protocol.

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.

The purpose of the study is to determine the effect of intermittent fasting on insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle and fat distribution.

The aim of this study is to determine the feasibility of conducting a trial to examine the efficacy of an ω3FA (Omega-3 fatty acid) containing balanced lipid emulsion in the prevention of progression of PNALD in infants with Intestinal Failure/Short Bowel Syndrome (SBS) and early liver dysfunction.

Tuberculosis (TB) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in organ transplant recipients. Management of tuberculosis in this setting is challenging due to the complexity of diagnosis and the potential toxicity of anti-TB therapy, especially in liver transplant candidates and recipients. Although the tuberculin skin test (TST) is recommended for screening of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in all candidates for liver transplantation, the performance of the TST in this setting is less than optimal, due to a lack of specificity (false-positive results due to interaction with BCG vaccine and other mycobacterial infections), and a lack of sensitivity in a population that is relatively immunocompromised. Recently, a new test named QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT-G) has been approved for the diagnosis of LTBI. QFT-G detects the release of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) by sensitized white cells after incubation of whole blood with TB antigens. QFT-G is expected to be more specific than TST. However, there are no studies defining the performance of QFT-G in a population of patients on a waiting list for liver transplantation. We plan to estimate the usefulness of the QFT-G test for the diagnosis of LTBI in a cohort of patients with end-stage liver disease. We hypothesize that the QFT-G test will correlate better with the risk of LTBI. This study advances research on the prevention of a serious bacterial infection that can have devastating consequences in the post-transplant setting. The new diagnostic strategy may more accurately determine the presence of LTBI, thereby allowing appropriate therapy.