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Hereditary AnemiasNCT02067130

Utility of Fibroscan in Estimating Hepatic Iron Concentration

A study testing Fibroscan in people with Hereditary Anemias, run by University of British Columbia at 1 site in Canada.

Unknown status

Status not confirmed. The sponsor has not verified this record for over two years, so it may be out of date.

Official record
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Trial summary

In patients with hereditary anemias (e.g. thalassemias), defective red blood cells are produced due to an error in the genes, or DNA, that provide the instructions for their synthesis. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 19 years and older
Conditions the study is for
Hereditary Anemias
What is being tested?
Fibroscan
Type of treatment
Surgery or procedure
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
30 participants
Where
1 siteCanada
Study dates
Oct 2013to Dec 2016
Phase
Interventional
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 19 years and older
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • All adult patients (age 19 or greater) with hereditary anemias requiring chronic blood transfusion at St. Paul's Hospital will be invited to participate in this study. The majority of patients will be β-Thalassemia Major.

Who cannot join

  • Known Hepatitis B positive
  • Known Hepatitis C positive
  • Known HIV positive
  • Known liver cirrhosis
  • Known primary liver disease such as Wilson's disease and hereditary hemochromatosis

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Canada1 site
  • St. Paul's Hospital

    Vancouver, British Columbia, V6Z 1Y6

Other trials in Canada

About this study

Official title: Utility of Transient Elastography (Fibroscan) in Estimating Hepatic Iron Concentration in Comparison to MRI in Patients With Transfusion Dependent Hemoglobinopathies

In patients with hereditary anemias (e.g. thalassemias), defective red blood cells are produced due to an error in the genes, or DNA, that provide the instructions for their synthesis. As a result, hereditary anemias are characterized by chronically low hemoglobin, which is contained inside red blood cells and carries oxygen throughout the body. In more severe cases, patients are dependent on frequent blood transfusions to replenish the hemoglobin.

The body has limited ability to get rid of excess iron. However, with repeated blood transfusions, the iron level in the body builds up because the red blood cells contain iron as heme. Over time, the high level of iron accumulates in organs such as the heart, liver, and pancreas causing heart problems, liver failure, and diabetes. As a result, patients who receive multiple blood transfusions need to be monitored for iron overload, and be started on medical therapy in a timely fashion to prevent organ damage.

Read more

Liver is usually the first and the most affected organ by iron accumulation, so knowledge of its iron concentration provides estimate of total body iron load. Liver biopsy is the gold standard in measuring the iron concentration in the liver, but it is invasive and cannot be performed on routine basis. MRI is another option that can assess liver iron concentration non-invasively, and is currently recommended for monitoring iron load on a yearly basis. However, MRI has a high cost and is not easily accessible in Canada. The investigators aim to determine if transient elastography (Fibroscan), which is a form of ultrasound that measures liver stiffness, can accurately assess liver iron concentration.

Hypothesis:

Fibroscan reading correlates with MRI and serum ferritin in estimating hepatic iron concentration.

Read the detailed description

Inclusion criteria: All adult patients (age 19 or greater) with hereditary anemias requiring chronic blood transfusion at St. Paul's Hospital will be invited to participate in this study. The majority of patients will be β-Thalassemia Major. They will be given a pamphlet containing the details of the study and can contact the research assistant or clinic nurse for more information should they be interested.

Exclusion criteria: Patients with known Hepatitis B positive, known Hepatitis C positive, known HIV positive, known liver cirrhosis, known primary liver disease such as Wilson's disease and hereditary hemochromatosis are excluded from the study.

Written consent will be obtained from all participants by the clinic nurse/research assistant prior to enrollment.

Study procedures:

Data to be collected retrospectively from patient charts (St. Paul's Hospital's EMR/Sunrise Clinical Manager and paper chart) include: baseline demographic data (age, gender, hematological condition), medical comorbidities and complications related to iron overload (Diabetes, hypothyroidism, cardiomyopathy/arrhythmia and congestive heart failure, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, osteopenia and osteoporosis syndrome..etc), current medications including use of iron chelators such as desferrioxamine, deferasirox, deferiprone or combination therapy, viral hepatitis status (B and C) and date of test, liver cirrhosis status (stage), liver biopsy result (iron concentration) and date of procedure. Patients with chronic transfusion requirement usually undergo annual MRI at the beginning of the year to estimate hepatic iron concentration as per standard practice. This year (2013), R2 MRI (FerriScan) will also be available for the first time to all patients in BC as part of routine monitoring for iron overload. Details/results from both techniques (i.e. same images collected in one scan, but analyzed differently using R2 and T2* algorithms) will be collected.

Being tested
Fibroscan
Keywords
Beta Thalassemia Major
Medical subject headings
beta-Thalassemia

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • FibroscanProcedure or surgery

    Transient elastography (Fibroscan®) is an affordable and noninvasive tool for measuring liver stiffness as a predictor of liver fibrosis. Since Fibroscan® measures liver's stiffness, its utility is not limited to fibrosis, and has been extended to other conditions that would increase the liver's stiffness, such as amyloidosis (Loustaud-Ratti et al. Amyloid 2011) and perhaps iron overload.

Study groups in NCT02067130
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
FibroscanOtherSubjects enrolled will undergo Fibroscan. It is an affordable and noninvasive tool for measuring liver stiffness as a predictor of liver fibrosis. Fibroscan reading will be collected at the Gastroenterologist's (Dr. Ko) outpatient clinic (Pacific Gastroenterology Associates) where a qualified research nurse/assistant will perform the scan under supervision of the physician. Anticipated timing of this procedure will be October to December 2013
Receives: Procedure: Fibroscan

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Fibroscan reading collected at the Gastroenterologist's outpatient clinic

    Fibroscan results will be compared to that of T2* MRI, R2 MRI (FerriScan) and serum ferritin using linear regression models to determine if there is any correlation between FibroScan® results and liver iron concentration, which is indirectly measured with MRI and serum ferritin.

    Measured: 1 year

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted20 Feb 2014 (estimated)
  2. Study startOct 2013
  3. Primary completionDec 2015
  4. Study completionDec 2016 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Diagnosis
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
30 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT02067130
Sponsor's protocol ID
H13-02149
Status last verified
Jan 2016
First submitted
18 Feb 2014
Last updated
14 Jan 2016
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No

Publications

  • Shander A, Sazama K. Clinical consequences of iron overload from chronic red blood cell transfusions, its diagnosis, and its management by chelation therapy. Transfusion. 2010 May;50(5):1144-55. doi: 10.1111/j.1537-2995.2009.02551.x. Epub 2010 Jan 15.

    PubMed 20088842
  • Jung KS, Kim SU. Clinical applications of transient elastography. Clin Mol Hepatol. 2012 Jun;18(2):163-73. doi: 10.3350/cmh.2012.18.2.163. Epub 2012 Jun 26.

    PubMed 22893866
  • Loustaud-Ratti VR, Cypierre A, Rousseau A, Yagoubi F, Abraham J, Fauchais AL, Carrier P, Lefebvre A, Bordessoule D, Vidal E, Sautereau D, Jaccard A. Non-invasive detection of hepatic amyloidosis: FibroScan, a new tool. Amyloid. 2011 Mar;18(1):19-24. doi: 10.3109/13506129.2010.543443. Epub 2011 Jan 10.

    PubMed 21219116
  • Remacha A, Sanz C, Contreras E, De Heredia CD, Grifols JR, Lozano M, Nunez GM, Salinas R, Corral M, Villegas A; Spanish Society of Blood Transfusion; Spanish Society of Haematology and Haemotherapy. Guidelines on haemovigilance of post-transfusional iron overload. Blood Transfus. 2013 Jan;11(1):128-39. doi: 10.2450/2012.0114-11. Epub 2012 Jul 4. No abstract available.

    PubMed 22790272
  • Gandon Y, Olivie D, Guyader D, Aube C, Oberti F, Sebille V, Deugnier Y. Non-invasive assessment of hepatic iron stores by MRI. Lancet. 2004 Jan 31;363(9406):357-62. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(04)15436-6.

    PubMed 15070565
  • Hou P, Popat UR, Lindsay RJ, Jackson EF, Choi H. A practical approach for a wide range of liver iron quantitation using a magnetic resonance imaging technique. Radiol Res Pract. 2012;2012:207391. doi: 10.1155/2012/207391. Epub 2012 Dec 11.

    PubMed 23365743
  • Argyropoulou MI, Astrakas L. MRI evaluation of tissue iron burden in patients with beta-thalassaemia major. Pediatr Radiol. 2007 Dec;37(12):1191-200; quiz 1308-9. doi: 10.1007/s00247-007-0567-1. Epub 2007 Aug 21.

    PubMed 17710390

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Fibroscan in people with Hereditary Anemias, run by University of British Columbia at 1 site in Canada.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 5 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: status not confirmed, as of the sponsor's last update on 14 Jan 2016. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Canada. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

Results are not available in the source record.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Fibroscan reading collected at the Gastroenterologist's outpatient clinic (time frame: 1 year). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT02067130, which also lists 7 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 14 Jan 2016.

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