Purpose

The goal of this interventional study is to evaluate two strategies for how to provide intravenous (IV) fluids for treating patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) in cirrhosis. The main question it aims to answer is: what is the safety, efficacy, and feasibility of providing a recommendation to use a Volume Assessment Guidance Algorithm (VAGA) or give standard of care doses of IV albumin? Patients will be randomly assigned where their treating teams will receive a VAGA-based recommendation or a standard of care IV albumin recommendation.

Conditions

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Over 18 Years
Eligible Genders
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  1. Adult age 18 years or greater 2. Signed informed consent form (ICF) by any subject capable of giving consent, or, when the subject is not capable of giving consent, by their legally authorized representatives prior to initiation of any study procedures. 3. Admitted to the hospital 4. Diagnosis of decompensated cirrhosis (either prior to admission or new diagnosis on admission). 5. Presence of acute kidney injury (AKI) as defined by International Club of Ascites (ICA) criteria, defined as SCr increase of ≥0.3 mg/dL within 48 hours or ≥50% increase from baseline which is known or presumed to have occurred within the prior 7 days.

Exclusion Criteria

  1. Requiring >2 liters (L) supplemental oxygen at the time of screening. 2. In shock requiring vasopressors (vasoconstrictors for the treatment of AKI such as terlipressin, midodrine, and octreotide are allowed). 3. Allergy or other contraindication to IV albumin administration. 4. Death, liver transplant, or renal replacement therapy (RRT) expected within 48 hours. 5. Patient and/or legally authorized representative unable to provide informed consent. 6. Hepatic encephalopathy grade 3 or 4 at the time of screening. 7. Already received >200 g albumin during admission at the time of screening. 8. Severe, active bleeding requiring 3 or more units of red blood cell transfusion in the 48 hours prior to screening. 9. Admission to the intensive care unit at the time of screening. 10. Mechanical ventilation at the time of screening. 11. Presence of New York Heart Association (NYHA) class 3-4 symptoms of congestive heart failure at the time of screening. 12. History of prior liver or kidney transplant. 13. Pregnant or nursing status 14. Any condition, in the opinion of the investigator, that could confound or interfere with the safe completion of study activities.

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Primary Purpose
Treatment
Masking
None (Open Label)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Experimental
VAGA Group
This group will receive an algorithm-based recommendation based on the 2024 Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI)/International Club of Ascites (ICA) joint consensus meeting on AKI in cirrhosis, which recommends a personalized approach to AKI in cirrhosis in order to avoid volume overload. This includes balanced crystalloids as first-line resuscitative fluids unless there is a patient-specific indication for an alternative colloid (e.g. blood for gastrointestinal bleeding, IV albumin for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis or suspicion of hepatorenal syndrome), or no further resuscitation.
  • Other: Recommendation: No Further Resuscitation
    Treatment teams are encouraged not to administer any additional fluids
  • Other: Recommendation: Resuscitation with Crystalloid
    Treatment teams are encouraged to administer crystalloid. Amount of resuscitative fluid will be determined by treatment team's clinical assessments and usual standards of care
  • Other: Recommendation: Resuscitation with Colloid
    Treatment teams are encouraged to administer colloid. Amount of resuscitative fluid will be determined by treatment team's clinical assessments and usual standards of care
Placebo Comparator
Standard of Care
This group will receive a recommendation based on the 2021 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and 2018 European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) clinical practice guidelines, which recommends a 1 g/kg/d IV albumin (maximum 100 g/day) IV albumin over 2 days as an initial resuscitation approach for patients with AKI and cirrhosis.
  • Other: Recommendation: Standard of Care IV Albumin
    Treatment teams are encouraged to administer 1 g/kg/d IV albumin (maximum 100 g/day) over 2 days

Recruiting Locations

Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts 02114
Contact:
Jevon E Robinson, BA
617-726-3465
jrobinson39@mgh.harvard.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
Massachusetts General Hospital

Study Contact

Detailed Description

This randomized, open-label, pilot feasibility trial will assess a volume assessment guidance algorithm (VAGA) in patients with AKI and cirrhosis. Eligible patients must have AKI and decompensated cirrhosis. In addition to assessing the adherence to the suggested guidance, this study will measure the effect of the study intervention on grams of albumin given, clinical efficacy outcomes (AKI response rates, survival, RRT status, transplant status), and safety. Patients who meet eligibility criteria will be randomized 1:1 where the treating clinicians will receive a one-time recommendation for volume resuscitation using the VAGA or standard of care IV albumin repletion (1 g/kg/day for two days). Both groups will be followed with assessments at 48 hours after randomization, hospital discharge, and 90-days after randomization. The primary efficacy outcome, grams of albumin, will be measured at 48 hours after randomization. Primary secondary efficacy outcomes (grams of albumin, AKI response) will be assessed at time of hospital discharge. If a patient undergoes liver transplantation or initiation of RRT during the admission, this will serve as a censoring date for these outcomes, and relevant data will be collected at the time of the first of these events. The primary feasibility outcome is adherence to the suggested guidance, assessed at 48 hours after randomization. The VAGA group will receive one of three potential clinical recommendations: (a) no further volume resuscitation, (b) resuscitation with crystalloid, or (c) resuscitation with colloid. This study will prospectively enroll approximately 50 adult patients at a single center.

Notice

Study information shown on this site is derived from ClinicalTrials.gov (a public registry operated by the National Institutes of Health). The listing of studies provided is not certain to be all studies for which you might be eligible. Furthermore, study eligibility requirements can be difficult to understand and may change over time, so it is wise to speak with your medical care provider and individual research study teams when making decisions related to participation.