11 February 2022

Frimley Health is playing a leading role in national research that could transform care for patients with liver disease.

The Hepatology Research and Development team is celebrating being the top recruiter to the BOPPP trial for liver disease since research restarted in July 2021.

If successful, the research could save up to 11,000 lives and help over 60,000 people with the disease in England and Wales annually.

Liver disease is the fifth most common cause of death in the developed world. In many cases patients have varices (dilated veins which can cause internal bleeding), which occur unpredictably and can require emergency treatment. This can lead to the patient needing to be admitted to intensive care and could be fatal if not resolved.

Running at Frimley for two years and funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme, the BOPPP trial aims to test if early use of a common beta-blocker (usually used to treat high blood pressure) is a cost-effective treatment to prevent bleeding in patients with liver cirrhosis.

The study aims to recruit 1,200 patients, with 44 NHS Trusts currently involved. Frimley Hepatology Research and Development team are dedicated to recruiting patients to this important study and have so far recruited 19 patients to the trial.

Research Practitioner Jessica Camp puts the team’s success down to “the cohesiveness of the team, excellent communication, and commitment from all our team members”.