Clinical Research Directory

Financial Rewards for Reducing Alcohol Use in Patients With Liver Disease

This study tests whether providing financial rewards based on a blood test result can help people with alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) stop or reduce their drinking. The blood test is called phosphatidylethanol (PEth), which can detect alcohol use over the past three to four weeks. The financial reward program is called contingency management (CM). The study has two parts. Part 1 involves one-time interviews and surveys with patients and healthcare providers to understand how a PEth-based CM program could best be delivered in a liver disease clinic. Part 2 is a pilot randomized controlled trial (the REINFORCE Trial) in which participants are randomly assigned to one of two groups: (1) a rewards group that receives escalating financial incentives when PEth results show reduced or no alcohol use, or (2) a monitoring group that receives fixed payments regardless of PEth results. Both groups receive PEth testing and continue their usual medical care. The study will assess whether the rewards program improves alcohol abstinence and reduction at 12 and 24 weeks.'

A-TANGO Phase 2 Study

The purpose of this research is to know if a new combination of drugs (TAK-242 and G-CSF) in combination with standard therapy for acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is more effective than standard therapy for ACLF treatment and is safe. Description of the population to be studied: ACLF is a syndrome that occurs in patients with chronic liver disease, with or without previously diagnosed cirrhosis, which is characterized by acute hepatic decompensation. Cirrhosis is a chronic disease of the liver marked by degeneration of cells, inflammation, and thickening and scarring (fibrosis) of liver tissue. Hepatic decompensation is a sudden decline in liver function. It is characterized by severe liver damage and complications like jaundice (yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes), ascites (a condition where excess fluid accumulates in the abdominal cavity and in abdominal organs) and encephalopathy (a group of symptoms that result from damage or dysfunction in the brain, causing a range of cognitive and neurological impairments). It may result in liver failure, one or more organ failures other than liver (renal, brain, coagulation, respiratory, cardiovascular), and is associated with increased mortality within 28-days and up to 3 months from onset. Grade 1 ACLF has a \>15% risk of mortality at 28 days. Purpose of the study: The investigational medication, TAK-242, is aimed at stopping an "over-reaction" of the immune system (the body's defense system) while G-CSF encourages your liver cells to grow. In patients with severe inflammation of the liver due to alcohol \[severe alcoholic hepatitis (sAH)\] and ACLF, this over-reaction may cause the liver and other organs in the body to suddenly stop working (organ failure). The hypothesis of the study is that by blocking this over-reaction and encouraging your liver cells to grow your condition may improve.

Acquisition of Cardiac Function Parameters in MRI and Echocardiography in Patients with Ethyltoxic Liver Cirrhosis and Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (TIPSS) Placement

The aim of this clinical trial is to investigate the development of cardiac decompensation following transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPSS) implantation in order to draw conclusions for future treatment methods or exclusion criteria prior to TIPS implantation. The main questions to be answered are: How often do symptoms of cardiac decompensation develop over a one year period? What laboratory, clinical or imaging morphological changes are associated with this? In addition to the standardised clinical procedure for TIPSS implantation, participants will undergo 3 cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), extended echocardiographic examinations (both just before, 3 days after and 3 months after implantation) and laboratory chemistry tests for specific endothelial and inflammatory markers (just before, on the day of implantation, 1 day after, 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after implantation).

Profermin®: Prevention of Progression in Alcoholic Liver Disease by Modulating Dysbiotic Microbiota

Investigators wishes to influence the gut microbiota in patients with alcoholic liver disease in a randomized controlled clinical trial. The investigators hypothesize that the alcohol-related dysbiosis seen in these patients can be changed and disease progression haltered by modulating microbiota with probiotics during 24 weeks.