Clinical Research Directory

Supra-papillary Versus Trans-papillary Biliary Stenting in Malignant Peri-hilar Stenosis

This is a randomized controlled trial comparing patients with obstructive jaundice due to malignancies of the perihilar area of bile ducts and undergoing both preoperative and palliative biliary drainage. The comparison will focus on the technique:, on the one hand, an arm of patients undergoing standard-of-care ERCP with trans-papillary plastic protesis placement, and on the other hand, an experimental arm of patients undergoing suprapapillary plastic protesis placement with no sphincterotomy. The primary objective will be to compare the time-to-stent dysfunction in the two groups; secondary objectives will include a comparison of the safety, technical, and clinical success of the procedures.

Gluten-free Diet in PSC and IBD

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a progressive disease of the biliary tree, which represents one of the most frequent indications for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLTx) in developed countries. There are several lines of evidence that dietary gluten/gliadin displays chronic pro-inflammatory, LPS-like properties. Recent evidence demonstrated the protective effect of gluten- free diet (GFD) in autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, non-celiac gluten sensitivity and some neurological disorders. This study is intended to explore therapeutic effect of GFD on PSC and IBD in prospective self-controlled mono-centric intervention study. Hypothesis: Avoidance of gluten in diet will reduce progression, symptoms and intestinal inflammation in PSC and UC patients.