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Verteporfin photodynamic therapy for neovascular age-related ...

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DOI: 10.3310/hta16060Health Technology Assessment 2012; Vol. 16: No. 611associations to the null. More importantly, given that the study was to some degree the meansby which patients with predominantly classic CNV lesions could access treatment, there wasa possibility that ophthalmologists might tend to overdiagnose the presence of classic CNV inorder to classify patients as eligible.The research context was also important. The TAP trials that were reporting at the time thestudy was being designed had taken great care to assure the quality of photographic im<strong>age</strong>s andthe grading of these im<strong>age</strong>s. All photographers were accredited at the outset and reaccreditedannually. All photographic im<strong>age</strong>s (colour fundus and FA) were submitted to a central readingcentre <strong>for</strong> independent grading. 3 The VPDT cohort study research team wanted to establish thesame standards to ensure that the results of the study were credible.There<strong>for</strong>e, NetwORC UK was established with the capacity to carry out independent gradingof, potentially, > 5000 angiograms per year. Three geographically distinct centres, in Belfast,London and Liverpool, with facilities to grade stereoscopic fundus colour im<strong>age</strong>s and FAs werecombined into a single network with a man<strong>age</strong>ment facility in Belfast (Central AngiographicResource Facility; CARF) to co-ordinate the administrative and technical issues. CARF man<strong>age</strong>dthe collection and archiving of im<strong>age</strong>s from designated VPDT treatment centres, per<strong>for</strong>medconsistency checks, certification and training of photographers, and transmitted im<strong>age</strong>selectronically to the three reading centres using a customised software plat<strong>for</strong>m. Regular trainingand concordance exercises were organised to ensure consistency between the reading centregrading staff and minimise grading protocol discordance.The large volume of FAs to be graded precluded a double grading. There<strong>for</strong>e, quality assurancewas built in as an integral feature of the grading process. One in every eight FAs was randomlyselected <strong>for</strong> regrading by the same reading centre, and 1 in 80 FAs was randomly selected <strong>for</strong>regrading by one of the other reading centres. All graders were masked to whether a particulargrading was the original grading or a regrading.Stereoscopic colour im<strong>age</strong>s and FAs were graded by the three reading centres that made upNetwORC UK using previously published definitions and protocols. 35,36 Grading involved thedelineation and measurement of the area of classic and occult CNV and other lesion componentscontiguous to CNV, <strong>for</strong> example fibrosis and haemorrh<strong>age</strong>.Data collection and man<strong>age</strong>mentTable 3 shows the schedule of data collection at follow-up visits. A decision was taken to collectHRQoL and HSS data in a subset of centres because of the workload involved and because notall primary care trusts (PCTs) paid the full tariff covering the costs of data collection. There wasa strong desire to ensure that these data were collected in a representative population. There<strong>for</strong>e,the research team reviewed fully funded sites and their geographic disposition and recommendedto the Steering Committee that 18 centres collect these data. The geographic distribution of allsites is shown in Figure 2, distinguishing between the sites which collected only the clinical dataset and the sites which also collected HRQoL and HSS data.To meet its objectives, the VPDT study had to collect data from all of the hospitals designated <strong>for</strong>providing VPDT identified at the outset. These hospitals had been selected to <strong>for</strong>m a network ofspecialist retinal practitioners. When planning the study, we estimated that these hospitals wouldenrol about 7000 patients each year and that each patient would make, on aver<strong>age</strong>, three clinicvisits per year. The study was planned to run <strong>for</strong> 3 years so that, in total, data would be collected<strong>for</strong> 21,000 patients who, between them, would make up to 168,000 clinic visits.© Queen’s Printer and Controller of HMSO 2012. This work was produced by Reeves et al. under the terms of a commissioning contract issued by theSecretary of State <strong>for</strong> Health.

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