ClinicalTrials.Veeva

Menu

Insertion Technique in Large Volume Paracentesis

University of Virginia logo

University of Virginia

Status

Completed

Conditions

Cirrhosis

Treatments

Procedure: Z-tract Insertion Technique
Procedure: Coaxial Insertion Technique

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to compare two different methods that are used for inserting the needle during paracentesis. One method is called the "coaxial insertion technique" and the other is called the "z-tract technique". Researchers would like to see which method is better and leads to less problems like oozing from the needle insertion site and pain during the procedure. Both methods are approved and currently used methods for doing a paracentesis at the University of Virginia. Which method is used generally depends on physician preference. There have been no studies done to date that compare these two methods for needle insertion.

Enrollment

72 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18+ years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

  • Age 18 years and older
  • Agreement to participate
  • Patients with cirrhosis (confirmed by liver biopsy or clinically diagnosed) and ascites
  • Patients presenting to UVA Digestive Health Clinic for a scheduled therapeutic paracentesis who do not have any contraindications to the procedure
  • Ability to be reliably contacted by phone 24 hours following paracentesis

Exclusion criteria

  • Prisoners
  • Non-english speaking
  • Paracentesis with less than 5 liters of ascitic fluid removed. (If this occurs, the specific subject encounter will be removed from the study but the subject may be included if at their next regularly scheduled paracentesis 5 liters or greater of ascitic fluid is removed.)

Trial design

Primary purpose

Treatment

Allocation

Randomized

Interventional model

Parallel Assignment

Masking

Single Blind

72 participants in 2 patient groups

Z-tract Insertion Technique
Other group
Description:
For this technique, the skin is pulled 2 cm downward before the paracentesis needle is inserted and advanced.
Treatment:
Procedure: Z-tract Insertion Technique
Coaxial Insertion Technique
Other group
Description:
For this technique, the needle is directly inserted to minimize the distance between he cutaneous tissue and ascites
Treatment:
Procedure: Coaxial Insertion Technique

Trial contacts and locations

1

Loading...

Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

Clinical trials

Find clinical trialsTrials by location
© Copyright 2026 Veeva Systems