NCT05998330

LiverPAL: A Trial of Inpatient Palliative Care for Patients With Advanced Liver Disease

LiverPAL: A Randomized Trial of Inpatient Palliative Care for Patients With Advanced Liver Disease

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 200 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate whether early integration of palliative care in the care of hospitalized patients with advanced liver disease (AdvLD) can improve patients' quality of life, physical symptoms, mood, and serious illness communication. Palliative care is a medical specialty focused on lessening (or "palliating") symptoms and assisting in coping with serious illness.

Detailed description

The main purpose of this study is to compare two types of care - usual hepatology care and usual hepatology care with early involvement of palliative care clinicians to see which is better for improving the experience of hospitalized patients with advanced liver disease (AdvLD). The investigators aim to find out whether introducing hospitalized patients with AdvLD to the palliative care team that specializes in symptom management can improve the quality of life and physical and psychological symptoms that patients and families experience during their hospitalizations as well as enhance the quality of patients' end of life care.

Conditions

• Liver Disease Chronic
• End Stage Liver DIsease
• Cirrhosis
• Cirrhosis, Liver
• Advanced Cirrhosis

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	LiverPAL	The intervention include integrating early palliative care with usual hepatology care to evaluate and treat patients' symptoms, enhance their illness and prognostic understanding, support their coping, and coordinate their serious illness, transitional, and end-of-life care.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-09-20
• Primary completion: 2027-07-01
• Completion: 2027-07-01
• First posted: 2023-08-18
• Last updated: 2025-07-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States