Objectives: Treatment switching from control to treatment after disease progression is common in oncology trials. Analyses of survival data typically adjust for this bias, but such adjustments are rarely performed in analyses of patient-reported outcomes. This analysis aimed to examine the impact of adjusting for treatment switching on estimated treatment effects on 5-level version of EQ-5D (EQ-5D-5L) utilities and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Goal-directed fluid therapy (GDFT) has been shown to reduce the complications following a variety of major surgical procedures, possibly mediated by improved organ perfusion and function. We have shown that it is feasible to randomise patients to GDFT or standard fluid management following liver transplant in the cardiac-output optimisation following liver transplantation (COLT) trial. The current study compares end organ function in patients from the COLT trial who received GDFT in comparison to those receiving standard care (SC) following liver transplant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Perioperative goal directed fluid therapy (GDFT) has been shown to reduce postoperative complications following major surgery; this intervention has not been formally evaluated in the setting of liver transplantation.
Methods: We conducted a prospective trial of GDFT following liver transplantation randomising patients with liver cirrhosis to either 12 h of GDFT using non-invasive cardiac output monitoring or standard care (SC). The primary outcome was feasibility.
Introduction: Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory disease of the pancreas with high risk of developing multiorgan failure and death. There are no effective pharmacological interventions used in current clinical practice. Maintaining fluid and electrolyte balance is the mainstay of supportive management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objective: Perianal fistulae are a common complication of Crohn's disease (CD) and pose a substantial burden on quality of life. Data capturing health-related utility associated with perianal fistulae in CD are scarce. The current study aims to value health states related to different stages of the disease to quantitatively evaluate the impact of complex perianal fistulae on CD patients' quality of life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Aortic valve replacement (AVR) can be performed either through full median sternotomy (FS) or upper mini-sternotomy (MS). The Mini-Stern trial aimed to establish whether MS leads to quicker postoperative recovery and shorter hospital stay after first-time isolated AVR.
Methods: This pragmatic, open-label, parallel randomized controlled trial (RCT) compared MS with FS for first-time isolated AVR in 2 United Kingdom National Health Service hospitals.
Background: The recent shift to an integrated approach to health and social care aims to provide cohesive support to those who are in need of care, but raises a challenge for resource allocation decision making, in particular for comparison of diverse benefits from different types of care across the two sectors.
Objective: To investigate the relationship of social care needs and well-being with a generic health status measure using multivariate regression.
Methods: We empirically compared responses to health and well-being measures and social care needs from a cross-sectional data set of the general population (the Health Survey for England).
Health Technol Assess
April 2018
Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) can be treated using a maze procedure during planned cardiac surgery, but the effect on clinical patient outcomes, and the cost-effectiveness compared with surgery alone, are uncertain.
Objectives: To determine whether or not the maze procedure is safe, improves clinical and patient outcomes and is cost-effective for the NHS in patients with AF.
Design: Multicentre, Phase III, pragmatic, double-blind, parallel-arm randomised controlled trial.
Eur J Cardiothorac Surg
October 2018
Objectives: Atrial fibrillation (AF) reduces survival and quality of life (QoL). It can be treated at the time of major cardiac surgery using ablation procedures ranging from simple pulmonary vein isolation to a full maze procedure. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of adjunct AF surgery as currently performed on sinus rhythm (SR) restoration, survival, QoL and cost-effectiveness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with liver cirrhosis undergoing liver transplantation have a hyperdynamic circulation which persists into the early postoperative period making accurate assessment of fluid requirements challenging. Goal-directed fluid therapy (GDFT) has been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality in a number of surgery settings. The impact of GDFT in patients undergoing liver transplantation is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Technol Assess Health Care
January 2017
Objectives: Our study addresses the important issue of estimating treatment costs from historical data. It is a problem frequently faced by health technology assessment analysts. We compared four approaches used to estimate current costs when good quality contemporary data are not available using liver transplantation as an example.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Although many studies have identified public preferences for prioritising health care interventions based on characteristics of recipient or care, very few of them have examined the reasons for the stated preferences. We conducted an on-line person trade-off (PTO) study (N=1030) to investigate whether the public attach a premium to the avoidance of ill health associated with alternative types of responsibilities: lapses in healthcare safety, those caused by individual action or lifestyle choice; or genetic conditions. We found that the public gave higher priority to prevention of harm in a hospital setting such as preventing hospital associated infections than genetic disorder but drug administration errors were valued similar to genetic disorders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Health services often spend more on safety interventions than seems cost-effective. This study investigates whether the public value safety-related health care improvements more highly than the same improvements in contexts where the health care system is not responsible.
Method: An online survey was conducted to elicit the relative importance placed on preventing harms caused by 1) health care (hospital-acquired infections, drug administration errors, injuries to health care staff), 2) individuals (personal lifestyle choices, sports-related injuries), and 3) nature (genetic disorders).