Active clinical trials for "Hepatic Veno-Occlusive Disease"

The primary purpose of this project is to investigate if addition of glutamine, an amino acid, to standard parenteral nutrition, may improve the clinical outcome of the bone marrrow transplantation reducing the occurrence of veno-occlusive disease and severity of mucositis.

Severe veno-occlusive disease (VOD) of the liver is a life threatening complication of blood and marrow transplantation. Treatment with currently available (Food and Drug Administration [FDA] approved) agents fails in most cases. Recently conducted clinical studies indicate that patients benefit from defibrotide, a non-FDA approved agent. This protocol has been developed not with a research intent, but rather to ensure that defibrotide is used by the blood and marrow transplant programs at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and at Emory University in a safe, effective and ethical manner.

Veno-occlusive disease (VOD) of the liver is a significant complication for some patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This disease is thought to be a toxicity secondary to chemotherapy or radiation-induced damage to the epithelial cells of the blood vessels in the liver. VOD is categorized as mild, moderate or severe. Historically, there has been no method to treat the disease. Recently, however, there have been investigations into the use of a new agent called defibrotide. The primary purpose of this protocol is to provide defibrotide to patients with severe VOD. Because this drug has not been approved by the FDA, use of this medication under the auspices of this IND treatment plan is for compassionate use only.