Development of a Non-invasive Screening Tool to Predict Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD)

July 18, 2025 updated by: Richmond Research Institute

Development of a Non-invasive Screening Tool to Predict Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) in Volunteers on Clinical Trials Utilising Machine-learning and Bioimpedance Vector Analysis

A generic screening study to establish structural and/or functional baselines of specific organs.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Fatty liver disease is a common condition (25% of the population) which can lead to liver inflammation, liver scarring and even liver cancer. Clinical trials are often performed in healthy volunteers, who may have underlying fatty liver without knowledge of it. In clinical trials fatty liver can both mean volunteers have abnormal liver tests, preventing them joining the trial, as well as more likely to have a possible liver drug reaction, causing volunteers to withdraw from a clinical trial of a new drug.

The principal objective of the study is to develop a clinical scoring tool that can accurately predict fatty liver disease in study volunteers, without the need for invasive tests (such as a tissue biopsy).

We aim to recruit initially 2000 volunteers to this study, both healthy volunteers and patients with known MASLD.

Volunteers will attend the unit to undergo all assessments on one day. Once consent is given with a study research physician, bloods will be taken and body measurements made (including BMI, weight, waist circumference). A full medical history and physical examination will then be performed by the research physician.

Bioimpedance body composition analysis will then be performed on an ACUNIQ device. Finally ultrasound of the liver and fibroscan will be performed. Once all assessments are complete the study volunteer will be discharged from the unit.

Once all results are finalised, analysis will be performed on all the data to create a clinical score to predict the presence of MASLD, both with statistical and machine learning methods.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

2000

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Adult male or female volunteers for other clinical trials taking place at the study unit.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Male or female volunteers aged ≥18 to ≤80 years at the date of signing the informed consent.
  2. Willingness and ability to provide written, personally signed, and dated informed consent, in accordance with the latest ICH Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Guidelines and applicable regulations.
  3. An understanding, ability and willingness to fully comply with project procedures and restrictions.

For PART B only:

1. With a known history of MASLD as evidenced either of:

  1. GP diagnosis on HCF
  2. Documented Fibroscan or liver US demonstrating MASLD

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Known alcoholic liver disease, history of cirrhosis of any other cause (metabolic, viral hepatitis or other)
  2. Any other significant previous liver pathology (liver malignancy, portal hypertension, infiltrative liver disease)
  3. Alcohol consumption >30 units per week
  4. An Implanted cardiac devices

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Patients with MASLD
Patients with known MASLD
Bioimpedence vector analysis
Healthy volunteers
Patients without any known health issues
Bioimpedence vector analysis

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Establishment of Classification Tool for Use in Clinical Trials
Time Frame: Study duration (1 year)
The success of the final classification tool (as measured by area under the receiver operator curve (AUROC). The initial measure to generate the dataset will be the presence or absence of MASLD on liver USS.
Study duration (1 year)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Normal LFT Range in NAFLD patients
Time Frame: Study duration (1 year)
The normal range of LFT's in patients with known NAFLD
Study duration (1 year)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Collaborators

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jorg Taubel, MD, Richmond Pharmacology Limited

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 27, 2019

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 20, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 29, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

May 5, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 23, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 18, 2025

Last Verified

July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • C19030

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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