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Ngu NL, Saxby E, Worland T, Anderson P, Stothers L, Figredo A, Hunter J, Elford A, Ha P, Hartley I, Roberts A, Seah D, Tambakis G, Liew D, Rogers B, Sievert W, Bell S, Le S. A home-based, multidisciplinary liver optimisation programme for the first 28 days after an admission for acute-on-chronic liver failure (LivR well): a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials 2022; 23:744. [PMID: 36064596 PMCID: PMC9444080 DOI: 10.1186/s13063-022-06679-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) represents a rising global healthcare burden, characterised by increasing prevalence among patients with decompensated cirrhosis who have a 28-day transplantation-free mortality of 33.9%. Due to disease complexity and a high prevalence of socio-economic disadvantage, there are deficits in quality of care and adherence to guideline-based treatment in this cohort. Compared to other chronic conditions such as heart failure, those with liver disease have reduced access to integrated ambulatory care services. The LivR Well programme is a multidisciplinary intervention aimed at improving 28-day mortality and reducing 30-day readmission through a home-based, liver optimisation programme implemented in the first 28 days after an admission with either ACLF or hepatic decompensation. Outcomes from our feasibility study suggest that the intervention is safe and acceptable to patients and carers. Methods We will recruit adult patients with chronic liver disease from the emergency departments, in-patient admissions, and an ambulatory liver clinic of a multi-site quaternary health service in Melbourne, Australia. A total of 120 patients meeting EF-Clif criteria will be recruited to the ACLF arm, and 320 patients to the hepatic decompensation arm. Participants in each cohort will be randomised to the intervention arm, a 28-day multidisciplinary programme or to standard ambulatory care in a 1:1 ratio. The intervention arm includes access to nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy, dietetics, social work, and neuropsychiatry clinicians. For the ACLF cohort, the primary outcome is 28-day mortality. For the hepatic decompensation cohort, the primary outcome is 30-day re-admission. Secondary outcomes assess changes in liver disease severity and quality of life. An interim analysis will be performed at 50% recruitment to consider early cessation of the trial if the intervention is superior to the control, as suggested in our feasibility study. A cost-effectiveness analysis will be performed. Patients will be followed up for 12 weeks from randomisation. Three exploratory subgroup analyses will be conducted by (a) source of referral, (b) unplanned hospitalisation, and (c) concurrent COVID-19. The trial has been registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry. Discussion This study implements a multidisciplinary intervention for ACLF patients with proven benefits in other chronic diseases with the addition of novel digital health tools to enable remote patient monitoring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our feasibility study demonstrates safety and acceptability and suggests clinical improvement in a small sample size. An RCT is required to generate robust outcomes in this frail, high healthcare resource utilisation cohort with high readmission and mortality risk. Interventions such as LivR Well are urgently required but also need to be evaluated to ensure feasibility, replicability, and scalability across different healthcare systems. The implications of this trial include the generalisability of the programme for implementation across regional and urban centres. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) ACTRN12621001703897. Registered on 13 December 2021. WHO Trial Registration Data Set. See Appendix 1 Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13063-022-06679-x.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie Ly Ngu
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia. .,Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia.
| | - Edward Saxby
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
| | - Thomas Worland
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
| | - Patricia Anderson
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
| | - Lisa Stothers
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
| | - Anita Figredo
- Hospital in the Home, Level 4, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
| | - Jo Hunter
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
| | - Alexander Elford
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
| | - Phil Ha
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
| | - Imogen Hartley
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
| | - Andrew Roberts
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
| | - Dean Seah
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
| | - George Tambakis
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
| | - Danny Liew
- Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide, Corner of North Terrace & George St, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
| | - Benjamin Rogers
- Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia.,Hospital in the Home, Level 4, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
| | - William Sievert
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia.,Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia
| | - Sally Bell
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia.,Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia
| | - Suong Le
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Monash Health, Level 3, 246 Clayton Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia.,Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia
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