An interventional study of Capsaicin-Containing Jelly and Placebo Jelly in Postoperative Liver Injury and Liver Regeneration, sponsored by Tongji Hospital. Not yet recruiting. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-09.
Sponsored by Tongji Hospital · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether a capsaicin-containing diet started before surgery can reduce liver injury and help the liver recover in adults aged 18 to 75 years who are scheduled for surgery to remove part of the liver because of a liver mass. Capsaicin is the substance that makes chili peppers spicy. The study will also assess the safety and tolerability of this diet.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
Does the capsaicin-containing diet help blood levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), a marker of liver injury, fall more quickly between the first and fifth days after surgery?
Does it improve other measures of liver recovery and reduce liver failure after surgery?
What side effects, including stomach or intestinal discomfort, occur during the study?
Researchers will compare a jelly containing chili powder with a similar-looking placebo jelly containing sweet pepper powder without capsaicin. Both groups will receive the same standard care before, during, and after surgery.
The study plans to enroll 110 participants. Participants will be assigned by chance to one of the two groups, with an equal chance of receiving either study diet. Participants and the researchers assessing their recovery will not know which diet they receive.
Participants will:
Take the assigned jelly three times daily with meals, starting 2 days before surgery and continuing through the evening of the first day after surgery, with a pause for surgery as directed by the study team. The capsaicin group will receive approximately 7.5 mg of capsaicin per day.
Avoid other spicy foods while taking the study diet.
Have blood tests before and after surgery to assess liver injury, liver function, and safety.
Report any discomfort or other health problems to the study team.
Complete follow-up assessments around 30 and 90 days after surgery to check recovery, complications, hospital readmissions, and survival.
Tongji Hospital is the lead sponsor of 386 studies on the registry; 209 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
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.
A focal liver lesion scheduled for elective open or laparoscopic liver resection, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal liver , or hepatic hemangioma.
class A or B with a score of 7 or less, and indocyanine green retention at 15 minutes (ICG-R15) of 20% or less.
Planned intraoperative hepatic inflow occlusion.
An anticipated future liver remnant of at least 30% in patients with a normal liver or at least 40% in patients with cirrhosis.
Ability to tolerate an oral chili powder challenge, such as 0.5 g without gastrointestinal discomfort.
Willingness and ability to comply with the standardized study diet initiated 2 days before surgery, with a planned capsaicin dose of 7.5 mg/day in three divided doses with meals for participants assigned to the capsaicin group, and provision of written .
No severe cardiac, pulmonary, or renal dysfunction, with an estimated (eGFR) of at least 60 mL/min.
No history of liver transplantation or other organ transplantation.
Exclusion Criteria:
A history of or current other than the disease for which liver resection is planned, unless cured for at least 5 years without recurrence. Hepatocellular carcinoma scheduled for resection, and colorectal liver together with their corresponding colorectal primary cancer, are not excluded under this criterion.
Persistent preoperative elevation of transaminases or total above twice the that does not improve with treatment, or a white blood cell count below the lower limit of normal.
A requirement for a combined radical oncologic procedure, such as pancreaticoduodenectomy or radical resection for hilar cholangiocarcinoma.
Tumor thrombus in the main portal vein, the right or left portal vein branch, a hepatic vein, or the inferior vena cava.
Severe cirrhosis with a score of 8 or higher, or moderate to severe esophagogastric varices identified by endoscopy.
Active bleeding, a coagulation disorder with an (INR) greater than 1.5 or a count below 100 × 10\^9/L, or another to surgery.
Severe cardiac, pulmonary, or renal dysfunction, defined as (NYHA) functional class III or IV, (FEV1) below 50% of the predicted value, or below 60 mL/min.
A history of or current active peptic ulcer disease, severe gastritis, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or a known allergy to chili powder or capsaicin.
Severe infection, active tuberculosis, hepatitis, or another acute or chronic systemic disease.
Participation in another interventional clinical trial or use of an drug affecting liver function within the preceding 3 months.
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.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
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.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.
Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.
The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.
“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.
Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.
Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.
Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.
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.
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.
From a breathing test (spirometry): how much air you can blow out in the first second. Often given as a percentage of what is expected for your age, height and sex.
A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.
Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.
A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.
It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.
Metastases
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Child-Pugh class
A score of how well the liver works in people with liver disease such as cirrhosis: class A is mild, B moderate and C severe.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Bilirubin
A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.
Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ULN (upper limit of normal)
The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.
“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
INR, PT and aPTT (clotting tests)
Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.
Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Platelets
Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
NYHA class (heart failure)
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
FEV1
From a breathing test (spirometry): how much air you can blow out in the first second. Often given as a percentage of what is expected for your age, height and sex.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Autoimmune disease
A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.
Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Investigational drug or device
A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.
It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Other: Capsaicin-Containing Jelly
Other: Placebo Jelly
A food-based dietary intervention consisting of an oral jelly containing Thai chili powder. Each 15-mL serving contains 1.25 g of chili powder, providing approximately 2.5 mg of capsaicin. One serving is taken orally three times daily with meals, for a total of 3.75 g of chili powder and approximately 7.5 mg of capsaicin per day. Administration begins 2 days before surgery and continues through the evening of postoperative day 1, with perioperative interruption for surgery. Participants avoid other spicy foods during the intervention period.
An oral placebo jelly containing sweet pepper powder without capsaicin, matched to the capsaicin-containing jelly in appearance and caloric content. One serving is taken orally three times daily with meals, beginning 2 days before surgery and continuing through the evening of postoperative day 1, with perioperative interruption for surgery. Participants avoid other spicy foods during the intervention period.
Postoperative Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) Recovery Rate
The postoperative ALT recovery rate is assessed using the decline in the natural logarithm of serum ALT between 24 and 120 hours after liver resection, expressed as a rate per 24 hours. Serum ALT is measured preoperatively and at 24 and 120 hours postoperatively. The preoperative measurement serves as the baseline reference.
Time frame: From 24 to 120 hours after liver resection (postoperative days 1 to 5).
No study locations are listed for this record.
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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