ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT03826160Updated Jul 19, 2022

Growth Hormone Dynamics and Cardiac Steatosis in HIV

An observational study in Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Lipodystrophy and Cardiac Disease, sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 40 Years to 70 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-07-19.

Primary conditionLipodystrophyRegistry: Acquired Immunodeficiency SyndromeReclassifiedWhy we changed it
Registry
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome — the first condition term the registry derived for this study.
ClinicalTrials.gg
Lipodystrophy
Why
  1. The registry often attaches Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome to studies about something else, and this study's title and listed conditions do not name it.
  2. The study's listed conditions name Lipodystrophy.
Confidence
High: the new condition is named in the study's own listed conditions. Of 351 hand-checked studies reclassified this way, 68% were exactly right and 84% in the right disease family; the registry's first term was right for 5% (measured 2026-10-21). How we classify →
Wrong?
Tell us the study's main condition →

Sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital · Observational

Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
23
Ages
40 Years to 70 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Cardiac steatosis is increased among individuals with HIV, and may predispose to cardiac mechanical dysfunction and subsequent heart failure. The pathogenesis and treatment of cardiac steatosis is not well understood. The investigators have previously shown that perturbed growth hormone (GH) secretion in HIV contributes to ectopic fat accumulation in the viscera and the liver. Moreover, the investigators have found that augmentation of endogenous GH secretion with the FDA-approved medication tesamorelin reduces visceral and hepatic fat. In this longitudinal observational study, the investigators will examine patients with HIV and abdominal fat accumulation who either plan or do not plan to initiate tesamorelin prescribed clinically. The investigators hypothesize that blunted GH secretion in HIV is associated with cardiac steatosis. The investigators also hypothesize that use of tesamorelin for 6 months is associated with a reduction in intramyocardial fat and preserved cardiac function.

02

Conditions studied

  • Human Immunodeficiency Virus
  • Lipodystrophy
  • Cardiac Disease

Browse trials for

03

In context

Lipodystrophy Reclassified

139 studies on the registry are indexed under Lipodystrophy; 10 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 23 is below the median of 104 across 34 observational studies indexed under Lipodystrophy.

Browse Lipodystrophy studies →

Lead sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital is the lead sponsor of 2,586 studies on the registry; 447 are open to participants now.

Of its 222 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 168 (76%) have results posted.

Compared within Lipodystrophy, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
40 Years to 70 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

HIV patients, age 40-70 years old, with abdominal fat accumulation

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Men and women, ages 40-70 years
  • Documented infection on stable antiretroviral therapy for ≥ 3 months
  • Abdominal obesity with waist circumference ≥ 102 cm in men, ≥ 88 cm in women
  • Indication for tesamorelin per clinical judgment

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • CD4 \< 100 cells/mm3 or viral load > 400 copies/mL
  • Current active AIDS-defining illness
  • History or symptoms consistent with heart failure
  • Standard to MRI including severe allergy to gadolinium
  • (eGFR) \< 45 mL/min/1.73 m2 within one month of MRI study
  • Use of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) or growth hormone (GH) within the past 6 months
  • > 7%, chronic insulin use within the past 6 months, and/or change in anti-diabetic agents within the past 3 months
  • Change in statin therapy within the past 3 months
  • Chronic use except intermittent topic steroid creams or inhalers
  • Pregnancy or breastfeeding
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(5)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

GFR and eGFR (kidney filtering)

GFR (glomerular filtration rate) is how much blood the kidneys filter each minute. It is usually estimated from a blood test — eGFR, by formulas such as CKD-EPI or MDRD — and some studies ask for it to be measured directly instead. Usually given in mL/min/1.73 m².

Check the method, the units and the minimum the study states. A value of 90 or above is in the normal-or-high range, but kidney damage can show in other tests too.

HbA1c

A blood test of average blood sugar over the past two to three months, given as a percentage or in mmol/mol. 6.5% (48 mmol/mol) or more is the usual threshold for diabetes, normally confirmed by a second test.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

05

Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
23 participants (actual)
Patient registry
No
Biospecimen retention
Samples without dna

Groups and cohorts

  • Tesamorelin

    Individuals who plan to initiate tesamorelin clinically

  • No Treatment

    Individuals who decline to initiate tesamorelin despite a clinical indication

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Intramyocardial lipid content

    Measure of fat content within cardiac muscle as assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)

    Time frame: 6 months

Secondary outcomes

  1. Circumferential diastolic strain rate

    Measure of diastolic function as assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

    Time frame: 6 months

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Massachusetts General Hospital
    Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Ran from Jan 2019 to primary completion in Apr 2022, 38 months.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jan 30, 2019
First posted
Feb 1, 2019
StartActual
Jan 30, 2019
Primary completionActual
Apr 19, 2022
CompletionActual
Apr 19, 2022
Last update
Jul 19, 2022
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 19, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03826160
Responsible party
Steven K. Grinspoon, MD (Professor of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Feb 1, 2019
Start date
Jan 30, 2019
Primary completion
Apr 19, 2022
Completion
Apr 19, 2022
Last update
Jul 19, 2022

Study contacts

Steven Grinspoon, MD
principal investigator · Massachusetts General Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Jul 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion