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FibroScan™ in Pediatric Cholestatic Liver Disease (FORCE)

Completed
Conditions
Biliary Atresia
Alagille Syndrome
Liver Fibrosis
Alpha1 Anti-Trypsin Deficiency
Portal Hypertension
Cholestasis
Interventions
Other: Liver Stiffness Measurement (LSM)
Registration Number
NCT02922751
Lead Sponsor
Arbor Research Collaborative for Health
Brief Summary

Noninvasive monitoring of liver fibrosis is an unmet need within the clinical management of pediatric chronic liver disease. While liver biopsy is often used in the initial diagnostic evaluation, subsequent biopsies are rarely performed because of inherent invasiveness and risks. This study will evaluate the role of non-invasive FibroScan™ technology to detect and quantify liver fibrosis.

Detailed Description

Noninvasive monitoring of liver fibrosis is an unmet and critical need within the clinical management of children with chronic liver disease. While liver biopsy is often used in the initial diagnostic evaluation of children with liver disease, subsequent surveillance liver biopsy is rarely performed in children because of its inherent invasiveness and risks. Therefore, our understanding of the natural history of fibrosis progression in children is limited. The patchy nature of fibrosis in many important pediatric liver diseases \[e.g. biliary atresia (BA) and cystic fibrosis liver disease (CFLD)\] limits the utility of sequential liver biopsy even if it were to be employed in clinical practice in pediatrics. Thus, non-invasive means of assessing liver fibrosis throughout the liver would be highly desirable and clinically useful in pediatric hepatology. ChiLDReN is poised and uniquely qualified to conduct a comprehensive longitudinal assessment of the utility of FibroScan™-specific elastography, liver stiffness measurement (LSM) as a measure of hepatic fibrosis in children with serious chronic cholestatic liver disease.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
552
Inclusion Criteria
  • Age less than 21 years at the time of enrollment

  • Participants enrolled in a ChiLDReN based prospective observational cohort study (PROBE, BASIC, or LOGIC)

  • Willingness and ability to participate in the study for up to 24 months

  • One of the following three diagnoses

    • Biliary atresia per ChiLDReN criteria or,
    • Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (PiZZ or SZ) or,
    • Alagille Syndrome per ChiLDReN criteria
Exclusion Criteria
  • BA with known situs inversus or polysplenia/asplenia
  • Presence of clinically significant ascites detected on physical examination
  • Open wound near expected FibroScan probe application site
  • Use of implantable active medical device such as a pacemaker or defibrillator
  • Known pregnancy
  • Prior liver transplant
  • Unable or unwilling to give informed consent or assent

Study & Design

Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Study Design
Not specified
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
All SubjectsLiver Stiffness Measurement (LSM)All subjects will be recruited from the Children parent studies: LOGIC (NCT00571272), BASIC (NCT00345553) and PROBE (NCT00061828) and will undergo Liver Stiffness Measurement (LSM). Subjects in these studies have one or more of the following conditions: biliary atresia (BA), Alpha1 Anti-trypsin Deficiency (A1AT) or Alagille Syndrome (ALGS).
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Compare the distribution of LSM at enrollment between participants with and without portal hypertensionEnrollment

A linear model will be fit to FibroScan™ values at enrollment to assess the impact of portal hypertension on LSM, controlling for important covariates such as age, gender, and race

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
FibroScan™ LSM values at enrollment and conventional laboratory determinants of liver disease ((Pediatric End Stage Liver Disease (PELD) and APRI (Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) to Platelet Ratio Index)).Baseline

The analysis will be limited to subjects for whom a PELD can be calculated (i.e., those for whom the individual components of the PELD score are available). Note that PELD will be calculated for all pediatric participants including those greater than 12 years of age. PELD is calculated as

PELD = 4.80 x \[ln serum bilirubin (mg/dL)\] + 18.57 x \[ln INR\] - 6.87 x \[ln albumin (g/dL)\]

+ 4.36(\<1 year old) + 6.67(growth failure) \[www.unos.org\]

APRI is calculated as

APRI = AST/upper limit of normal AST x 100 \[U/L\] Platelet Count (109/L) \[U/L\])

Change in Liver Stiffness Measurement (LSM) obtained via transient elastography from baseline to LSM at the Year 1 and Year 2 visits in participants with biliary atresia (BA).Baseline, Year 1 Visit, Year 2 Visit

The key secondary aim (Aim 2) compares the one- and two-year FibroScan™ values to those at enrollment in participants with BA.

Number of participants in whom a valid FibroScan™ LSM can be obtainedBaseline, Year 1 Visit, Year 2 Visit

The investigators will define two measures of the feasibility of FibroScans™ in the participant populations with a "technically possible" FibroScan™, defined as the number of subjects with at least 10 FibroScan™ measurements obtained divided by the number assessed. The proportion of subjects with FibroScans™ of "acceptable quality" is defined as the number of subjects with FibroScan™ LSM with the ratio of the interquartile range and median of the 10 measurements \<30%, of which at least 6 are completed, divided by the number assessed. The proportions and their 95% confidence intervals will be provided using the Wald method; however, the Wilson-Score methods will be used if the sample sizes are small or the proportion is small for a disease group. We will perform separate analyses for subjects \<2 years of age and for those \>2 years of age.

Trial Locations

Locations (13)

Children's Hospital Los Angeles

🇺🇸

Los Angeles, California, United States

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

🇺🇸

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh

🇺🇸

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Cincinnati Children's Memorial Hospital

🇺🇸

Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

University of California at San Francisco (UCSF)

🇺🇸

San Francisco, California, United States

University of Utah

🇺🇸

Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Hospital for Sick Children

🇨🇦

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Riley Hospital for Children

🇺🇸

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

🇺🇸

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (Emory University)

🇺🇸

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Texas Children's Hospital (Baylor College of Medicine)

🇺🇸

Houston, Texas, United States

Seattle Children's Hospital

🇺🇸

Seattle, Washington, United States

Children's Hospital Colorado

🇺🇸

Aurora, Colorado, United States

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