85 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
The Health Advocate for Liver Transplant (HEAL-Tx) Transition of Care Pilot is a nonrandomized, open-label intervention pilot of a health advocate intervention aimed to assess feasibility and acceptability of integrating a Health Advocate onto the transplant team to help adolescents transition their care to adult transplant teams. Across studies, health advocate roles vary, and can include coordinating medical care treatment, facilitating financial assistance (e.g., taxi vouchers), and connecting patients to community resources, which can improve self-management, mitigate social risks, and lead to better communication between the healthcare system and the family. In this pilot, the investigators will adapt this intervention for adolescent/young adult liver transplant patients and measure acceptability and feasibility according to RE-AIM.
Liver transplant rejection is when the body's immune system attacks and damages the liver of a transplant recipient. Currently the best way to see if that is happening is with a liver biopsy. The purpose of this research study is to see if a simple blood test can diagnose if a transplanted liver is being rejected.
Despite medical and surgical advances, long-term survival in liver transplant (LT) recipients is compromised by an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) after transplant, the mechanisms of which are still not fully understood. TMAO is an attractive therapeutic target to improve vascular health and diastolic function toward preventing CVD in LT patients. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to better understand the role of TMAO in cardiovascular dysfunction patients with chronic kidney disease.
The hypothesis of this proof-of-concept study is that EPO increases the frequency, stability and/or function of Tregs in liver transplant recipients. We also hypothesize that EPO will have a greater effect in everolimus vs. tacrolimus treated LTR, thus providing the rationale for a subsequent clinical trial to utilize EPO in combination with everolimus as a more successful pathway toward tolerance.
Liver transplantation is a high risk, high-cost intervention that extends life in over 8,000 patients in the US each year. Of those that receive transplants, 1 in 3 will have a complication related to their heart after transplant. Research has been done to attempt to reduce the risk of these complications from occurring. High blood pressure, otherwise known as "hypertension," is an important risk factor for heart complications. Hypertension is found in 92% of liver transplant recipients within 6 years of their procedure. However, using data from our transplant patients at Northwestern we recently showed that having a normal blood pressure in the first year following liver transplant lowered the risk of heart complications and the risk of death by over half. However, there are no studies investigating the best medications to lower blood pressure in liver transplant recipients. There are several types of medications that can be used to treat high blood pressure. Currently, most transplant providers use a class of medications called calcium channel blockers as the first medications for hypertension in liver transplant patients. However, there is little data to support this recommendation. There is some new evidence suggesting that another class of medications, called thiazide-like diuretics, might be beneficial to lower blood pressure in liver transplant recipients. The current study will use two different medications: the calcium channel blocker called amlodipine besylate (at dose of 10mg) and the thiazide-like diuretic known as chlorthalidone (25mg). Both medications are taken once per day by mouth and are FDA approved for the treatment of high blood pressure in the general population. The main purpose of this study is to determine how well these two medications lower blood pressure and how they may improve markers of heart function and kidney function in liver transplant recipients. The long-term goal of this research is to improve heart outcomes in those that have undergone liver transplant by addressing risk factors that can be modified, including blood pressure. This study will help determine the size of the needed group for further studies to ensure proper investigation of which of these two medications may most benefit liver transplant patients.
This study is being conducted to assess the safety of Direct Peritoneal Resuscitation (DPR) in high-risk liver transplant patients. The investigators want to also identify if this method of recovery after large surgery has the same benefits in liver transplant patients as have been appreciated in other surgical patients. The combination of elevated BMI and impaired kidney function increases the risk of 1) needing intensive care unit (ICU) admission after surgery, 2) slow function of the new liver \[technically termed Early Allograft Dysfunction (EAD)\] and 3) need for more than one operation. The study team also aims to identify if DPR can reduce these risks and not cause other unexpected complications following surgery. DPR involves the infusion of a solution into the abdomen and has been shown to reduce edema and improve blood flow in organs. The solution used in this study is a commercially available peritoneal dialysate, a dextrose containing solution that is infused into the abdominal cavity and is routinely used in patients with end-stage renal disease requiring dialysis.
Although medical advancements have enabled children experiencing liver transplants to live longer, medical management post-transplant is ongoing and complex. Many findings underscore adolescents as being a particularly vulnerable population, with rates of nonadherence being four times higher than in adults. This pilot study aims to explore the feasibility and impact of a brief text-messaging intervention in a randomized controlled trials (N = 50). We have three primary aims: 1) Study patient satisfaction with and utilization of this intervention in order to better understand feasibility and acceptability; 2) Investigate the effects of this intervention on medication adherence, healthcare utilization, and health status; and 3) Examine potential effects of the intervention on the physician-patient relationship, motivation for adherence, and other variables.
The objective of this protocol is to conduct longitudinal and prospective studies of liver transplant recipients, using a multimodality approach, akin to that used in kidney transplantation. The primary aim will compare the clinical outcomes of LiverCare post-transplant surveillance in liver transplant with standard of care consisting of liver function tests, DSA measurements, drug level monitoring, and 'for cause' biopsy. The protocol will assess the correlation between clinical events (e.g. rejection, recurrent disease, biliary obstruction), dd-cfDNA levels, gene expression profiling, ability to assess microchimerism, develop predictive analytics, infectious disease diagnoses and finally examine graft histology.
Tacrolimus is the standard immunosuppressive drug used to prevent organ rejection post liver transplant. One side effect of Tacrolimus is nephrotoxicity. Everolimus does not have the nephrotoxicity side effects of Tacrolimus. Replacement of Tacrolimus by Everolimus may have a reduced incidence of renal dysfunction in liver transplant patients who already have chronic kidney disease or peri-operative acute kidney injury. Liver transplant patients receive potent induction immunosuppression in the form of rabbit anti thymocyte globulin. Investigators believe that in conjunction with this induction regimen, patients can be maintained on Everolimus monotherapy without the risk of rejection. Additionally, Everolimus is known to induce tolerance in transplant recipients. Tolerant patients do not require immunosuppression to accept transplant organs. Tacrolimus is a widely used in liver transplant recipients for immunosuppression, however it is associated with nephrotoxicity. Everolimus, on the other hand lacks nephrotoxicity. Whether replacement of tacrolimus by Everolimus preserves kidney function in patients with pre-existing chronic kidney disease or acute kidney injury is not well established. Also, the efficacy and safety of reduced-dose Everolimus with or without Mycophenolate Mofetil in prevention of rejection is unknown. Primary Aim Assess the effect of Everolimus with or without Mycophenolate Mofetil versus Tacrolimus plus Mycophenolate Mofetil therapy on renal function measured by Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR). Secondary Aims Compare the efficacy of Everolimus plus Mycophenolate Mofetil versus Tacrolimus plus Mycophenolate Mofetil therapy as measured by the following: * Biopsy-confirmed acute rejection * Hyperlipidemia * Proteinuria * % regulatory T-cells in circulation * NODAT \[New Onset Diabetes mellitus After Transplant\], hypertension and malignancy * Tolerance measured by gene profiling at year 1, 2 and 3
This is an open-label, pilot trial to test the safety and efficacy of transplantation of livers from Hepatitis C seropositive non-viremic (HCV Ab+/NAT-) and HCV seropositive viremic (HCV Ab+/NAT+) donors to HCV seronegative recipients on the liver transplant waitlist. Treatment and prophylaxis will be administered, using a transmission-triggered approach for the first scenario (HCV Ab+/NAT- donors, arm 1) and a prophylaxis approach for the later scenario (HCV Ab+/NAT+ donors, arm 2).
The investigators are interested in whether or not the use of a mobile health (mHealth) application increases the rate of immunosuppression medication adherence among adolescent liver transplant recipients. The investigators aim to test this by recruiting adolescent (ages 14-21) liver transplant recipients to use an mHealth application to record themselves taking their immunosuppression medications, and tracking medication adherence over time. The study population will be approximately 25 adolescent liver transplant recipients at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
This was a multicenter, open-label, active-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy, safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of two CFZ533 maintenance doses in de novo liver transplant recipients.
It is believed that important brain centers send signals through the vagus nerve to the liver to suppress the amount of glucose (sugar) that gets produced. People who have received liver transplants have had their vagus nerve cut during transplantation, and many of these individuals have diabetes at one year post-transplant. The goals of this study are: to see whether metabolic control centers in the brain can still be activated normally with the medication diazoxide in patients who have had a liver transplant, and to understand whether disrupting the vagus nerve would result in excess glucose being produced by the liver (ie. a potential mechanism for why these patients develop diabetes).
This is a phase 2A, single center, open-label, single-arm, 24-week study to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of Saroglitazar Magnesium 4 mg in liver transplant recipients with NAFLD.
The investigators are interested in whether or not the use of a mobile health (mHealth) application increases the rate of immunosuppressant medication adherence among adult liver transplant recipients. The investigators aim to test this by randomly assigning transplant recipients to the intervention (use of an mHealth app to manage and track their immunosuppression regimen) or control arm (standard of care) upon discharge from their initial transplant hospitalization, and tracking medication adherence over time. The study population will be approximately 50 adult liver transplant recipients at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
A retrospective chart review in which the information in the standard psychosocial evaluations done pre-transplant for liver transplant recipients will be coded, recorded, and correlated with posttransplant outcomes of the same recipients. Evaluated outcomes include rejection episodes and adherence to tacrolimus, calculated through the MLVI (Medication Level Variability Index). The researchers will evaluate the degree to which both single elements in the evaluation as well as a cumulative score derived by a structured review of the chart using the Stanford Integrated Psychosocial Assessment for Transplantation (SIPAT) model can predict posttransplant outcomes.
The purpose of this investigation is to study if very low dose IL-2, given to liver transplant patients by subcutaneous (under the skin) injections, over a 4 week period of time, will cause an increase in the number of Treg cells in the blood.
The predominant remaining questions for post-transplant treatment of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the DAA (direct acting anti-virals) era are whether a ribavirin-free regimen is possible and whether pre-emptive treatment is now a potential option to prevent long-term damage to the allograft. Our aim is to provide answers to these primary questions with our multicenter, prospective, randomized, open-label intent-to-treat phase IV study
The study is planned to be conducted in 2 parts. The first part (open label, multi-center, non-controlled) of the study will estimate a dose that would provide a mycophenolic acid (MPA) exposure in pediatric participant that is comparable to that achieved in adult liver transplant participants receiving the approved dose of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF, CellCept). The second part (open-label, multi-center, single-arm Phase IV study) of the study will provide the pharmacokinetics, efficacy and safety profile of the proposed dose in the immediate post-transplant period. This study will be conducted at two centers based in the United States of America. Twelve pediatric transplant participants receiving a first liver allograft from a cadaveric or living donor will be enrolled in this study. Stable pediatric liver transplant participants who are at least 6 months post-transplant and who were already receiving stable dose of MMF in combination with cyclosporine will be enrolled into the study. Participants should have received stable MMF dose according to center practice for at least seven days in order to get steady state pharmacokinetics (PK). Participants also should have received stable concomitant doses of cyclosporine (for at least 2 days) and corticosteroids per center practice. Participants will be aged between 9 months and 12 years, with at least 6 participants greater than or equal to (\>/=) 9 months and less than (\<) 36 months, of whom at least 2 will be \<24 months.
Many metabolic complications can develop after liver transplant including: diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, heart attacks and stroke. The goal of this study is to look at the safety and effect of 2 well known and established diet regimens on the people who had a prior liver transplant and investigate whether it helps with the control of these comorbidities.
The purpose of this trial was to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of everolimus in combination with reduced tacrolimus, compared to tacrolimus control, in living donor liver transplant recipients.
Patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplant will experience some degree of clinical and/or biochemical hepatic dysfunction. This early injury is known as primary graft dysfunction and varies from minor abnormalities to primary nonfunction. Prostaglandin-class drugs, including prostacyclin and its analogs, could represent an important advance toward the goal of reducing transplant related morbidity, mortality and associated costs by providing these benefits.
Text message reminders will improve adherence to lab tests in adolescent liver transplant recipients.
This study is being done with the purpose of trying to understand if and why transplant recipients may develop tolerance to their transplanted organ. Tolerance means being able to lower or take away immunosuppression (anti-rejection medications) without causing organ rejection.
The main focus of this study is to develop blood and/or urine tests that will help to detect early signs of rejection in people who have had a liver transplant. Researchers will examine blood, urine, and tissue samples and try to identify markers for certain conditions such as rejection, response to therapy, and scarring of the liver. Additionally, researchers would like to identify biomarkers that can detect damage to the native kidneys before blood levels of creatinine rises. By studying gene expression, researchers hope to be able to diagnose these conditions earlier and improve liver survival.
This study is being done to test blood, urine and tissue samples to see if this can help decide if CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease), AR (Acute Rejection) and HCV (Hepatitis C Virus) can be identified in its early stages. CKD damage to the kidneys, AR and HCV all lower the body's ability to function properly. Early detection of these conditions could assist with successful treatment and possibly lead to less repeat organ transplants.
The primary objective of this study is to assess the efficacy of immunosuppression withdrawal (ISW) in pediatric liver transplant (tx) recipients.
This study was designed to assess the evolution of renal function and to collect efficacy, safety, and tolerability data of everolimus in co-exposure with reduced CNI in paediatric liver transplant recipients.
Patients are being asked to be part of this study because they are a liver transplant recipient and have the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). Current routine treatment for HCV for liver transplant patients includes taking two medications called pegylated interferon alfa-2a (Pegasys®) and ribavirin. Patients Pegasys and ribavirin are FDA approved for the treatment of HCV. This study will evaluate the safety and efficacy of adding a third drug called telaprevir for the experimental treatment of HCV in liver transplant patients. The combination of Pegasys, ribavirin and telaprevir is currently FDA approved for the treatment of HCV, but is specifically not FDA approved for HCV patients who have had a liver transplant. This is because more information is needed about possible drug interactions between telaprevir and cyclosporine, or telaprevir and tacrolimus-based immunosuppressive drugs, which are typically part of routine care for transplant patients. Studies have shown that the addition of telaprevir greatly increases the efficacy of Pegasys and ribavirin for the treatment of HCV. However, these studies did not include adequate information on transplant patients due to the potential drug interactions. The investigators hope to gather more information about the safety and efficacy of telaprevir given in combination with Pegasys and ribavirin in the liver transplant patients who have HCV that is not well controlled with Pegasys and ribavirin alone.
This study will test the safety and tolerability of HCV Entry Inhibitor ITX 5061 in Liver Transplant Recipients with Hepatitis C infection. The investigators hypothesize that ITX 5061 oral monotherapy will be safe in adults during and after liver transplantation and that therapy will also inhibit HCV infection of newly transplanted livers in adults with prior HCV infection.