Close follow-up care after hospital stays for liver cirrhosis with fluid buildup
Tests a monitoring program for people with cirrhosis and swelling leaving the hospital.
Key facts
- Who runs it
- Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
- Where
- Hershey, United StatesSee the site
- Trial code
- Registry title
- Transitional Care Program for Fluid Overload in Cirrhosis
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 20 people, planned
- Started
- 15 Feb 2025
- Expected to end
- 1 Jun 2027
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets no study treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- Transitional Care Program
- Record updated
- 9 March 2026
Who can take part
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for adults with cirrhosis who are in hospital with fluid overload and treated with water pills (diuretics). It tests a follow-up program after leaving hospital.
- Age
- Over 18 years
- Sex
- All sexes can join
- Disease stage
- Cirrhosis with fluid overload (fluid in the belly, called ascites, and/or marked swelling) that needs diuretic therapy, while in hospital at Penn State Health, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
- Earlier treatment
- People who have had a TIPS (a tube placed in the liver to lower blood pressure there) cannot join.
Main reasons for not taking part
- Placement of a TIPS
- Fluid in the belly from a cause other than cirrhosis, such as cancer, heart failure, pancreatitis or nephrotic syndrome
- Not speaking English
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 8 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Patients > 18 years of age
- Inpatient at Penn State Health, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
- Diagnosis of cirrhosis
- Hospitalized with fluid overload (ascites and/or significant anasarca/edema) requiring diuretic therapy
- English speaking
Who cannot take part
- Ascites from an etiology other than cirrhosis, such as malignancy, heart failure, pancreatitis, nephrotic syndrome
- Placement of a TIPS
- Non-English speaking
Where in United States
- Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical CenterHershey, United StatesContact: Alison J Faust, MDTaking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn about an intensive monitoring plan (transitional care program) in patients with cirrhosis and excessive swelling that are going to be discharged from the hospital.
Read full original descriptionShow less
The main question[s] it aims to answer are:
* How much time and what resources are needed to run such a program * How well do patients follow up with the phone calls, bloodwork, and doctor appointments? * Do the patients enrolled in the program have less need for hospitalization later, less kidney injury, better fluid control, and/or better survival compared to patients that are not in the program?
Participants will
* Be given a digital scale and a binder with educational material and a log to monitor their weights after discharge from the hospital * Receive a phone call from the study team within 72 hours of discharge and weekly * Be given a follow up appointment with hepatology within 4 weeks of discharge
Researchers will compare participants in this program to patients that receive normal care to see if there are differences in need for hospitalization later, kidney injury, fluid control, and/or survival.
The 2 groups in the trial
- Transitional Care ProgramTreatment being tested
Participants will receive a digital scale and monitoring log, educational material, a phone call within 72 hours of discharge and weekly for 8 weeks, and a follow up appointment with a hepatologist within 4 weeks of discharge.
- Standard of CareNo study treatment, for comparison
Participants will be given typical discharge and follow up instructions.
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- Transitional Care Program vs Standard of Care in Cirrhosis With Volume Overload: A Pilot Study
- Plain-language title
- Close follow-up care after hospital stays for liver cirrhosis with fluid buildupGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
- AI summary
- From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 14 November 2026.
- Record updated
- 9 March 2026