Liver Diseases Clinical Trials

The Microbiota Augmentation to Reestablish Commensal Organisms (MARCO) trial is a single center prospective adaptive phase 1b clinical trial in patients who are hospitalized with complications of liver disease and have low fecal metabolite levels (butyrate and deoxycholic acid). The study intervention is 1 of 9 novel live Commensal Consortia each containing eight commensal bacterial strains derived from healthy donors. The primary objective of the study is to determine safety and tolerability of Commensal Consortia administration. Read Less

This is a research study to understand how liver impairment affects the way the body processes a new cancer medicine called sevabertinib (BAY 2927088). Sevabertinib is an experimental drug being developed to treat certain types of cancers that have specific genetic changes called HER2 mutations. This includes lung cancer, tumors that have spread to other parts of the body (metastatic), and tumors that cannot be removed with surgery (unresectable). Before this medicine can be given to cancer patients with liver problems, researchers need to understand how liver disease might change the way the body handles the drug. The study will include about 20 people divided into two groups: 10 people with moderate liver problems (called Child-Pugh B liver impairment) and 10 healthy people with normal liver function. The healthy volunteers will be matched to the liver patients by age, sex, and weight to make fair comparisons. All participants will take a single 20 mg dose of sevabertinib by mouth and stay in the research clinic for 5 days. During this time, researchers will take blood samples at specific times to measure how much drug is in the blood and how long it stays in the body. They will also monitor participants closely for any side effects. The main goal is to see if people with liver problems have different drug levels in their blood compared to healthy people. This information will help doctors determine if cancer patients with liver disease need different doses of sevabertinib to be safe and effective. The study will also look at the safety and tolerability of sevabertinib in both groups. Participants will have follow-up visits to ensure their continued health and safety. This research is important because many cancer patients also have liver problems, and understanding how liver disease affects this new cancer treatment will help ensure it can be used safely and effectively in all patients who might benefit from it. Read Less

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most common chronic liver disease globally. While weight loss through lifestyle modification is the standard treatment, most patients regain weight limiting ultimate improvement in liver disease. On the other end of the spectrum, bariatric surgery has shown promise in the treatment of MASLD/metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) due to its efficacy in inducing weight loss. Nevertheless, its adoption has been hindered by the perceived invasiveness of surgery. Over the past decade, endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) has gained recognition as a promising minimally-invasive approach to weight loss. The procedure involves utilizing a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-authorized endoscopic suturing device to reduce the gastric volume by 70%. Studies reveal that ESG is associated with approximately 18.2% weight loss at one year after the procedure, with sustained results for at least 10 years. Nevertheless, the effect of ESG on MASH remains unknown. In this study, the investigators will compare ESG + lifestyle modification versus lifestyle modification alone in treating histologic MASH. The study will randomize patients to one of two different treatment options: ESG + lifestyle modification or lifestyle modification alone. Read Less

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare liver disease that damages the liver's bile ducts. Bile ducts are tiny tubes that carry bile from the liver to the small intestine. Bile is a liquid produced by the liver that helps us absorb and use the nutrients in the food we eat. In people with PSC, the bile backs up into the liver and will damage it, causing scarring of the liver. The purposes of this study are to: * Collect medical and other data to learn more about PSC, how it progresses, and identify factors that may cause the disease to progress more quickly. * Ask questions about how PSC symptoms affect your child's life to learn more about its impact on your child's daily functioning * Children with PSC who are seen at one of the participating clinical sites in the Childhood Liver Disease Research Network (ChiLDReN) will be asked to contribute information, DNA, and other specimens. The information and specimens will be available to investigators to carry out approved research aimed at learning more about the possible causes and long-term effects of PSC. Read Less

This study involves the one-time collection of whole blood or saliva samples for the extraction and storage of DNA for use in ongoing and future ChiLDReN studies. Read Less

To determine the effectiveness of a behaviorally-based tailored disease management intervention in patients with fibrosis or steatosis and risk factors for cirrhosis. Read Less

The TARGET-HBV study engages an observational research design to conduct a comprehensive review of outcomes for patients with CHB infection. The initial phase of the study that enrolled patients treated with tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) was successfully completed. The current protocol (Amendment 1) describes the second phase of the study that will engage research activities for patients being managed for CHB in usual clinical practice in the US and Canada. The study addresses important clinical questions regarding the management of CHB by collecting and analyzing data from patients at academic and community medical centers. TARGET-HBV creates a robust database of real-world data regarding the natural history, management, and health outcomes related to antiviral treatments used in clinical practice. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to identify individuals who have suffered a liver injury arising as an idiosyncratic reaction to a prescription drug or a complementary and alternative medicine. Recently added acute cases enrollment that meets criteria to the protocol. Also added Fibroscans to the protocol that will be completed at baseline and follow-up on chronic subjects. Read Less

The social determinants of health have a large impact on health. For example, neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation is associated with increased risk of medication non-adherence, graft failure, and death in children after liver transplant. In order to address these socioeconomic inequities in outcomes, a more granular understanding of how the social determinants of health impact outcomes is needed. In this observational prospective cohort, caregivers of children undergoing liver transplantation will complete surveys and undergo in-depth, qualitative interviews. The survey will assess comprehensively for the social determinants of health (e.g. material economic hardship, health literacy, social connectedness, primary care quality, etc). The qualitative interviews will identify barriers and facilitators that socioeconomically deprived children/families have to obtaining the ideal outcome and identify health system opportunities to integrate social needs and medical care. Data will be linked to an existing prospective cohort study (The Society for Pediatric Liver Transplant registry) to assess the impact of social risk on outcomes after transplant. Healthcare providers who take care of children undergoing liver transplant will also be included in the qualitative interviews. The goal of including this group in the study is to determine the health systems barriers and facilitators to social needs screening and intervention. Read Less

Greater advances are needed in two separate but related areas in healthcare: 1) the Clinical Decision Support Systems that complement the EHR use in support of routine patient care, population management and disease management; and 2) the use of the point-of-care observational data from the provider-patient encounter that support realworld medical research and healthcare quality measure assessment. Real-world evaluations of treatments of chronic diseases in the context of comorbid conditions and special populations (minorities, women, mentally ill, and those with addiction) are limited. The purpose of the OPERA database is to help address this unmet need in clinical research. Read Less

This is an open-label, non-randomized trial that will be conducted at three clinical sites, Thomas Jefferson University (TJU), the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and University of Bern (UB). Enrollment will be allocated into one of 4 different cohorts depending on the inclusion criteria for each cohort. Cohort 1: Patients scheduled for hepatic vein pressure gradient (HVPG) measurements will subsequently undergo two consecutive SHAPE (subharmonic aided pressure estimation) procedures using different ultrasound contrast agents (Definity \[Lantheus Medical Imaging, N Bilerica, MA, USA\] and Sonazoid \[GE Healthcare, Oslo, Norway\] in randomized order) to estimate portal pressures with a Logiq E10 scanner (GE Healthcare, Waukesha, WI, USA) and determine the reproducibility of the SHAPE algorithm. Cohort 2: Patients identified as having clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH) will be monitored by SHAPE with Sonazoid for the duration of this project (18-24 months on average). These subjects will have follow-up ultrasound scans every 6 ± 2 months to check for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (using the Barcelona-Liver Cancer staging system) as well as ascites and at those times a repeat SHAPE examination will be performed. Liver stiffness values will be measured with elastography as well. This cohort will examine if serial SHAPE can accurately predict development of ascites and other liver related events in patients with compensated cirrhosis undergoing routine HCC surveillance in a multi-center setting. Cohort 3: Subjects newly diagnosed with portal hypertension and starting treatment with non-selective β-blockers will be monitored with SHAPE and results compared to elastography measurements of liver stiffness with standard assessments (e.g., serum liver function tests and measurement of spleen size as well as platelet count). This cohort will establish if SHAPE can be used to monitor treatment response in patients identified with portal hypertension. Cohort 4: Patients with compensated advanced chronic liver disease scheduled for an endoscopy examination for screening of varices relative to the Baveno VI and the expanded-Baveno VI criteria as well as the AST to Platelet Ratio Index will undergo a SHAPE examination. This cohort will compare the predictive ability of SHAPE for allocating patients with compensated advanced chronic liver disease to screening of varices compared to the current standard of care. Read Less

The purpose of the study is to study the muscle assessment score (MAsS, utilizing MRI, as an objective measure of frailty and muscle composition to serve as a predictor of morbidity and mortality in patients with liver disease. Read Less