A Randomized Clinical Trial on the Improvement of Fatigue in Patients With Primary Biliary Cholangitis by Implementation of a Multimodal Rehabilitation Program and Study of Its Pathophysiological Mechanisms

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Intervention Type: Other
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

The implementation of a non-pharmacological multimodal intervention program-including physical exercise, nutritional counseling, and psychological support-is expected to improve fatigue in patients with primary biliary cholangitis. Consequently, this improvement is anticipated to enhance quality of life and cognitive symptoms, while also positively impacting emotional, social, and occupational aspects. From a pathophysiological perspective, it is hypothesized that chronic cholestasis and/or immune system activation, with the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, leads to both central and peripheral alterations causing fatigue. At the central level, systemic inflammation may induce neuronal senescence in the basal ganglia, resulting in altered functional connectivity networks dependent on these regions and/or structural and connectivity changes in areas involved in interoception, such as the insula and anterior cingulate cortex. At the peripheral level, the hypothesis is that chronic inflammation mediated by anti-mitochondrial antibodies causes mitochondrial metabolic dysfunction in muscle cells, which would be reflected in changes observed in the gene expression analysis of these cells. Improvement in fatigue following the multimodal intervention program is expected to be associated with normalization of the immunological profile, enhanced functional brain connectivity, and improved mitochondrial metabolism in muscle.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Maximum Age: 80
Healthy Volunteers: t
View:

• Age ≥18 years

• PBC diagnosis according to EASL guidelines

• Moderate - severe fatigue defined by ≥ 29 points in PBC-40 questionnaire

Locations
Other Locations
Spain
Hospital Clinic de Barcelona
RECRUITING
Barcelona
Contact Information
Primary
Helena Hernández Évole, MD
HEHERNANDEZ@clinic.cat
+34 932 27 54 00
Backup
Sergio Rodríguez Tajes, MD, PhD
SRODRIGUEZ@CLINIC.CAT
Time Frame
Start Date: 2025-02-06
Estimated Completion Date: 2026-12-31
Participants
Target number of participants: 64
Treatments
Experimental: Multimodal prehabilitation
8 weeks program of tailored physical exercise program with nutritional and psychological counselling to be carried out to a patient on the basis of his/her health condition, social circumstances and adherence profile.
Other: Standard of care
Standard Counselling: Patients in the control group will follow standard of care of the hospital and will be given general recommendations on physical activity, nutrition and stress/anxiety management.
Sponsors
Leads: Hospital Clinic of Barcelona

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov