Author Archive for paul – Page 2

HCRN Garners $1.8M in Funding to Conduct Clinical Trial

The Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) announced it was awarding $1.8M in support of an HCRN proposed randomized control trial to determine the most effective entry site for placing a shunt. The trial builds off of the preliminary HCRN study lead by Principal Investigator Dr. Bill Whitehead of Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor School of Medicine. The trial, which will be conducted over a three-year period, seeks to determine which entry site for shunt placement increases the long-term survival rate of the shunt and thereby improving the quality of life for the patient.

PCORI grants differ from NIH grants because the involvement of the patient community in the study process is essential to the scoring and award of the grant. HCRN partnered with the Hydrocephalus Association (HA) to involve patients and caregivers in the study selection, development and execution in the form of surveys and a patient advisory council. HA will help with the development of consent forms, the monitoring of the data and ultimately the dissemination of the results.

The study will begin accruing patients at all nine HCRN centers starting in 2015.