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Orthotopic Liver Transplant (OLT) Recipients With Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Under Preemptive Treatment

NCT00167557 · Status: WITHDRAWN · Phase: PHASE4 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Last updated 2013-11-19

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

After a liver transplant, the hepatitis C virus (which destroyed one's own liver) eventually comes back. In many patients, this will eventually cause the loss of the new liver and can also confuse the doctors taking care of them because it is hard to tell the difference between one's body rejecting the new liver and hepatitis. This can cause serious treatment errors that can lead to more severe hepatitis or to rejection of the liver. Some of the drugs used to prevent rejection of one's new liver can cause the hepatitis to come back in a more severe form. This is especially true for the drugs known as corticosteroids.

Right now, the only effective treatment against hepatitis C is a combination of two drugs called interferon and ribavirin. These drugs act by strengthening one's immune system to fight the virus and by directly reducing the reproduction of the virus. Because the treatment with these drugs is associated with many side effects, there is little experience with treating patients after liver transplantation with them.

In the investigators' transplant program, they have decided to treat all patients with hepatitis C as early as possible after transplantation and to follow them closely for the development of hepatitis and side effects of the treatment. The investigators treat one's hepatitis as early as possible, before any actual damage has occurred in the new liver. This approach has been tried before but it has been hard to tell if it has worked or not. The main reason for failure was that many patients could not complete the treatment due to side effects. The investigators' purpose is to treat those side effects aggressively so that most patients can complete the treatment course.

The purpose of this study is to collect all the data regarding the investigators' treatment protocol so that they will be able to learn if this form of treatment is beneficial.

The study includes performing liver biopsies at scheduled times after one's liver transplant and for scheduled blood tests to see how much virus is still in the blood. If patients show signs that they are not responding to treatment they will be removed from the study.

Conditions

  • Hepatitis C

Interventions

DRUG

Pegylated Interferon

180mcg SC weekly starting 30 days post transplant

DRUG

Ribavirin

goal dose 13mg/kg starting 120 days post transplant for a minimum of 48 wks

PROCEDURE

Liver Biopsy

Liver biopsies performed at 9 points in time from time of liver transplant

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Astellas Pharma US, Inc.

    collaborator INDUSTRY

  • The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Hadar J Merhav, MD · The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Study Design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
70 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2005-01-31
Primary Completion
2008-03-31
Completion
2008-03-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT00167557 on ClinicalTrials.gov