Duodenal pulsENDO for Suboptimally Controlled Type II Diabetes Mellitus and Steatotic Liver Disease (DRESS-1)

August 17, 2026 updated by: Stephen KK Ng, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Duodenal Recellularization Via Electroporation Therapy for Suboptimally Controlled Type II Diabetes Mellitus and Steatotic Liver Disease (DRESS-1 Study)

This study is designed to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and mechanisms of pulsENDO procedure in patients with T2DM and its effect on MASLD.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

This is a prospective, single-arm feasibility study enrolling individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who have failed to achieve adequate glycemic control with oral glucose-lowering medications. Participants will undergo the pulsENDO procedure and liver biopsies both prior to and after the procedure to evaluate its effects on metabolically associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). They will be followed for 12 months to assess the primary endpoint and for a total of 2 years. Participants are permitted to undergo a repeat pulsENDO procedure once if they initially respond but experience a recurrence of suboptimal diabetes management between 1 and 2 years after the procedure. They will be followed up for an additional year after the repeated procedure.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
40

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

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 Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • Hong Kong
      • Shatin, Hong Kong
        • Chinese University of Hong Kong
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Philip Chiu, FRCSEd(Gen), MD
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Stephen Ng, FRCSEd(Gen)
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Alice Kong, MD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Raymond Tang, MD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Derek Xia, PhD(CUHK)
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Jimmy Lai, FRCP(Edin)

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

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Duration of T2DM < 10 years
  • BMI 18.5-40kg/m2
  • Failure to achieve adequate HbA1c reduction (7.5 - 11%) after at least 3 months stable dosage of oral glucose lowering drugs

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Previous treatment with pulsENDO or similar procedure
  • Previous GI surgery that could preclude the ability to perform pulsENDO, or acute gastric and duodenal pathology that increased the risk of pulsENDO
  • Type 1 DM, DM secondary to specific disease or having any history of ketoacidosis
  • Patients on insulin
  • Fasting C-peptide level <0.5ug/L
  • Any inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract such as Crohn's disease
  • Abnormal pathologies or conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, including duodenal polyps, ulcers or upper gastrointestinal bleeding conditions within 3 months of study
  • Uncorrectable bleeding diathesis, platelet dysfunction, thrombocytopenia with platelet count less than 100,000/microliter or known coagulopathy
  • Currently taking prescription antithrombotic therapy (e.g., anticoagulant or antiplatelet agent) within 10 days prior to study and/or there is a need or expected need to use during the study period
  • Currently taking medications known to cause significant weight gain or weight loss (e.g. chemotherapeutics)
  • Patients who have used non-steroidal analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and corticosteroids in the past 1 month
  • Underlying uncontrolled endocrine problem that leads to obesity, including and not limited to hypothyroidism, Cushing syndrome and eating disorder.
  • Patients with contra-indications to endoscopy
  • Patients with cirrhosis due to causes other than MASLD
  • Malignancy
  • Diagnosis of autoimmune connective tissue disorder (e.g. lupus erythematosus, scleroderma)
  • Pregnant or breast feeding
  • ASA grade IV & V
  • Mental or psychiatric disorder; Drug or alcohol addiction
  • Other cases deemed by the examining physician as unsuitable for safe treatment
  • Refusal to participate

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

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Endoscopic duodenal recellularization via electroporation therapy (pulsENDO)
pulsENDO procedure entails the ablation of the duodenal mucosa with irreversible electroporation (IRE)
Procedure: pulsENDO treatment
The pulsENDO procedure utilizes the pulsENDO catheter to deliver non-thermal pulsed electric field to the duodenum to induce cell regeneration. The catheter is introduced to the duodenum through the mouth using a guide wire and the therapy is applied to treat the duodenum under endoscopic visualisation, starting from D4 and repeated proximally. Approximately 10-18 cm of axial length of the duodenum is treated.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
HbA1c
Time Frame: 24 months post-procedure
Change in HbA1c (%) from baseline to Month 24
24 months post-procedure
Improvement of MAFLD
Time Frame: 12 months post-procedure
Proportion of subjects with improvement of liver steatosis and without worsening of fibrosis on liver histology
12 months post-procedure

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Total body weight loss (%TBWL)
Time Frame: 24 months post-procedure
Percent total body weight loss (%TBWL) from baseline to Month 24
24 months post-procedure
Incidence of adverse events
Time Frame: within 30 days post-procedure
Adverse events relating to endoscopic intervention, graded according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE)
within 30 days post-procedure
Body fat percentage
Time Frame: 24 months post-procedure
Changes in body fat percentage - measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis from baseline to Month 24
24 months post-procedure
Change in Quality of Life
Time Frame: 24 months post-procedure
measured by 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) questionnaire - (score 0:worst - 100:best) from baseline to Month 24
24 months post-procedure
Faecal microbiome
Time Frame: 24 months post-procedure
changes in faecal microbiome from baseline to Month 24
24 months post-procedure
Changes in background glucose lowering medications
Time Frame: 24 months post-procedure
Changes in glucose lowering medications from baseline to Month 24
24 months post-procedure

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Chinese University of Hong Kong

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Stephen Ng, FRCSEd(Gen), Prince of Wales Hospital, the Chinese University of Hong Kong

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 (Estimated)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
September 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
August 30, 2031

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
August 30, 2033

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
January 28, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 28, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
February 5, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
August 18, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
August 17, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • CRE-2025.876

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

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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