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The Use of Fibroscan to Assess Liver Fibrosis in Patients With Cardiac Pacemakers

Not Applicable
Conditions
Liver Cirrhosis
Interventions
Device: Fibroscan
Registration Number
NCT02415348
Lead Sponsor
University of Saskatchewan
Brief Summary

This study is designed to determine if the Fibroscan (Echosens, Paris), a non-invasive, ultrasound-based device used to estimate fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease, interferes with implanted cardiac pacemaker and/or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators. Recruitment consists of a total of 200 outpatients undergoing routine pacemaker interrogation at a teaching-hospital pacemaker clinic.

Detailed Description

Assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver diseases provides staging and prognostic information critical in establishing treatment priorities. The gold standard evaluation of liver fibrosis is hampered by the invasive nature of liver biopsies. FibroScan is a non-invasive alternative that has been extensively validated in chronic hepatitis C, chronic hepatitis B, alcoholic liver disease, and non- alcoholic fatty liver disease patients.

To avoid unknown risks of potential interaction, the manufacturer have advised against the use of the device in patients with active implantable medical device including cardiac pacemaker and/or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators(ICD). Review of the literature showed that these two population have been specifically excluded in all previously reported studies.

At the time of writing, no specific reports have demonstrated either safety or potential harm of the FibroScan in patients with pacemaker/ICD. Given the proven benefit of the FibroScan in chronic liver disease and the current policy of excluding patients with pacemaker/ICD in clinical practice, this study aims to formally evaluate the safe use of the FibroScan in this population within the controlled environment of a pacemaker lab.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
UNKNOWN
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
200
Inclusion Criteria

-Any outpatient undergoing routine pacemaker interrogation at pacemaker clinic

Exclusion Criteria
  • Pregnancy
  • BMI>35
  • Person with active implantable medical devices other than cardiac pacemaker and/or ICD
  • Person who are unable to tolerate lying flat for the FibroScan examination.

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
SINGLE_GROUP
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
FibroscanFibroscanFibroscan under simultaneous cardiac monitoring
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Rate of Pacemaker/ICD malfunction30 min
Type of Pacemaker/ICD malfunction30 min
Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Royal University Hospital

🇨🇦

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

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