Clinical Research Directory

Abdominal Wall Transplant

The purpose of this protocol is to determine the safety and efficacy of abdominal wall transplantation as a treatment for the reconstruction of abdominal wall defects. Abdominal wall transplantation may be performed alone or in combination with another transplant.

Cohort/Ethics Study of Patients With Severe Alcoholic Hepatitis Undergoing Early Liver Transplantation

The purpose of this study is to develop a clinical understanding of early liver transplantation (ELT) for patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis (SAH) and identify the public's opinion regarding this practice.

Addiction Intervention in Liver Transplantation Candidates

Addiction care is "a la carte treatment", adapted to the motivation and time constrains of users. Thus, various types of psychotherapeutic follow-up can be considered, different addictolytic medications or opioid maintenance therapies can be offered during treatment and hospitalization must be adaptable. In liver transplantation (LT), sustained alcohol relapse is a critical issue because it increases medium and long-term morbidity and mortality. In recent years, the issue of severe acute alcoholic hepatitis as an indication for LT has necessitated increased focus on appropriate alcohol monitoring around liver transplantation. Previously, alcohol consumption in pre- and post-LT period was mainly self-reported. More recently, the biological markers of excessive alcohol consumption have been validated in liver disease and can play a role in liver transplant recipients follow-up. The investigator hypothesize that standardized targeted addiction monitoring of LT patients decreases the rates of sustained alcohol relapse one year post liver transplantation.

RESTORE Declined Livers Study

This is a prospective, non-randomized, clinical trial of discarded liver transplants that have received normothermic machine perfusion (NMP), compared with standard cold preservation liver transplants. The discarded livers rejected by all other centers and meeting pre-NMP eligibility criteria will receive NMP using the OrganOx® metra device. The NMP-treated liver that meets the viability criteria will be transplanted to patients who are eligible and consented to the study. Liver transplant outcomes will be ascertained during 12 months post-transplantation. The results of the trial will be compared with those of contemporary comparison groups of patients who received the standard criteria donor liver transplantation.

Changes in Glucose Tolerance in Patients With Cirrhosis Peri-Liver Transplant

The goal of this observational study is to establish risk factors for post-transplant in adult individuals with cirrhosis without diabetes undergoing liver transplant evaluation. The question being addressed is: can laboratory work, anthropometric tests, functional tests, imaging, and advanced measurements such as wrist actigraphy, continuous glucose monitoring, or oral glucose tolerance testing predict the development of diabetes after liver transplant? Participants will be asked to periodically participate in wearing a continuous glucose monitor and wrist actigraph and obtain an oral glucose tolerance test both before and after liver transplant.

Leveraging Technology to Improve Medication Adherence in Youth With Kidney or Liver Transplant

Can the investigators create an effective way to improve adherence to immunosuppressant medication and reduce rejection, graft loss, and death in adolescents and young adults who have undergone kidney or liver transplantation? The investigators' mobile technology intervention uses real-time electronic pillbox-assessed dose timing and text message prompts to address antirejection medication nonadherence when nonadherence is detected.

EASE-SOT Pilot Study

Many transplant recipients may experience physical and emotional symptoms, such as anxiety, fatigue, sleep problems, pain, etc. Often, these symptoms are not reported or managed well, and can affect a patient's quality-of-life. Transplant recipients are grateful for the "gift of life" but physical and emotional symptoms reduce their quality-of-life. Transplant recipients and caregivers have felt unprepared for the ongoing symptoms and reduced quality-of-life post-transplant. One way of monitoring and managing these symptoms is using the Emotion And Symptom-focused Engagement (EASE) intervention. EASE was originally developed for patients with acute leukemia and has begun to be adapted to help monitor and manage physical and emotional symptoms for organ transplant recipients. EASE is comprised of two components: 1. Psychological - 8 supportive counselling sessions delivered by mental health clinicians to address concerns about mental health, losses from organ failure, coping with a transplant, experiences with living on the brink of death for a prolonged period of time, etc. 2. Physical - Regular assessments of physical symptoms using questionnaires and referral to healthcare professionals for symptom management as necessary. EASE uses questionnaires, also called patient reported outcome measures (PROMs), for symptom assessment and monitoring. PROMs measure symptom severity, similarly to how bloodwork measures organ functioning. PROMs, as part of EASE, will ask recipients questions and help identify relevant physical, emotional, and social symptoms to enhance their care. With the help of specialists, patients, and support from the Kidney Foundation of Canada, our team has begun to adapt the EASE intervention for transplant recipients. In order to finalize the adaptation of the EASE intervention for use in a routine transplant clinic, we are launching a pre-pilot study to gain real-life experience from managing symptoms of SOT recipients with the use of EASE-SOT.

Liver Transplantation After ex Vivo Liver Perfusion

Today, it is difficult to predict liver function after transplantation and therefore livers where poor function is assumed (marginal livers) become discarded. The study aim is to increase the number of available donor livers, especially for liver cancer patients, by pre-treating and testing marginal ones (extended criteria donor (ECD) livers) liver on a liver perfusion machine. A liver perfusion machine can simulate liver transplantation and enables functional/quality testing before transplantation. The machine will hopefully also make marginal livers more functional by reducing ischemia- \& reperfusion injury. A marginal donor liver is perfused ex situ with oxygenated blood from a blood donor on a machine. The liver can be tested here for function using internationally recognized criteria. At the same time, the investigators will carry out analyzes with microdialysis which can give a better picture of organ function and damage. Additionally, various samples of the liver and perfusate will be collected. Liver that achieves criteria for transplantation will be offered to the recipient.

Single-center Prospective Study of Non-invasive Methods for the Diagnosis of Postoperative Complications in Liver Transplant Recipients

A lot of different early and late complications may occur after liver transplantation. They could be related to surgical procedure, to infectious diseases or immuno-mediated diseases (acute cellular rejection, ACR). Almost all of those complications are characterized by an elevation in liver enzymes (ALT, AST and GGT) and a decline of liver function tests (serum bilirubin and INR increase) possibly leading to early allograft disfunction (EAD). In this scenario there is a lack of biomarker that could predict the development of ACR and/or EAD. The aim of this study is to explore the prognostic role of non-invasive instrumental and biological marker in the early post-transplant phase.