Online Prehabilitation for Patients Awaiting Liver Transplantation
Key facts
- Who runs it
- University of Alberta
- Where
- Canada6 sites in 1 countryChoose a country to see its sites
- Trial code
- Status
- Active, not recruiting
- People taking part
- 179 people enrolled
- Started
- 12 Jul 2023
- Expected to end
- Sept 2027
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets no study treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- Prehabilitation Programming
- Record updated
- 4 November 2026
Who can take part
- Age
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- Women and men
- Healthy volunteers
- Cannot take part
The registry criteria, word for word
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Who can take part
- ≥18 years old with cirrhosis (confirmed with transient elastography by FibroScan, histology, or imaging-based assessment with compatible clinical picture), referred for transplant and are assessed to have a high likelihood of being listed according to a preliminary review by hepatologist or are already listed for LT, are pre-frail or frail on the liver frailty index (LFI) or (added August 30, 2024) pre-frail or frail on the TeLeFI (prefrail LFI 3.2-4.3 and frail LFI ≥4.4), have English or French language proficiency, and own an internet-connected device
Who cannot take part
- Transplant indication is cholangiocarcinoma
- Listed for living related donor transplantation with expected time on the wait list <12 weeks, or model for end-stage liver disease (MELD-Na) Score >26 (Justification: time to transplant is very short)
- Presence of a clinical condition that makes the intervention unsafe or infeasible (e.g. unable to follow instruction) or unsafe environment for virtual participation
- Recent variceal bleed or history of varices not on adequate prophylaxis (Justification: acute exercise increases portal pressure
- Robust status on frailty testing (LFI 0-3.1) (Justification: unlikely to see benefit)
- Unable to provide informed consent
- Life expectancy less than 6 months, compassionate care (clinician judgment) (Justification: unlikely to see benefit)
This trial has no sites in United States.
It has sites in one country. Choose a country to see its sites.
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
Physical frailty is common in patients awaiting liver transplantation and has been associated with poor health outcomes. There is promising data from small studies showing that behavioural, nutrition, exercise therapy (prehabilitation) improves physical function in patients while they are waiting for a liver transplant.
Read full original descriptionShow less
The proposed trial will assess if a 12-week online prehabilitation program improves physical function in patients listed for liver transplantation. Over 4 years, 177 patients will be recruited from 6 transplant centres across Canada and will be randomized to receive either the online prehabilitation program or usual care.
The primary outcome of physical function will be evaluated using the FTSST at baseline and 12 weeks (or last timepoint before transplant) assessed virtually or in-person. Secondary outcomes include liver specific physical frailty, aerobic fitness, health-related quality of life (QoL), participant experience and acceptability. Exploratory outcomes include other virtual and in-person physical function measures, covert hepatic encephalopathy (CHE), sarcopenia, malnutrition, adherence, behaviour factors, clinical and post-transplant outcomes. Results will be compared between the intervention and usual care groups.
The 2 groups in the trial
- Prehabilitation GroupTreatment being tested
The prehabilitation group will be provided with access to the online digital web platform which contains the weekly acceptance and commitment therapy based education videos, nutrition intervention, and exercise intervention.
Treatment: Prehabilitation Programming
- Usual CareNo study treatment, for comparison
This group will receive standard care for LT candidates with cirrhosis and will be provided with standard online exercise, nutrition, and behavioural resources. Control participants will not receive access to the online digital platform.
Data and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- OPAL: Online Prehabilitation for Patients Awaiting Liver Transplantation - a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial to Reduce Physical Frailty and Improve Health Outcomes
- Record updated
- 4 November 2026