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Raymond J, Iancu D, Boisseau W, Diestro JDB, Klink R, Chagnon M, Zehr J, Drake B, Lesiuk H, Weill A, Roy D, Bojanowski MW, Chaalala C, Rempel JL, O'Kelly C, Chow MM, Bracard S, Darsaut TE. Flow Diversion in the Treatment of Intracranial Aneurysms: A Pragmatic Randomized Care Trial. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2022; 43:1244-1251. [PMID: 35926886 PMCID: PMC9451626 DOI: 10.3174/ajnr.a7597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Flow diversion is a recent endovascular treatment for intracranial aneurysms. We compared the safety and efficacy of flow diversion with the alternative standard management options. MATERIALS AND METHODS A parallel group, prerandomized, controlled, open-label pragmatic trial was conducted in 3 Canadian centers. The trial included all patients considered for flow diversion. A Web-based platform 1:1 randomly allocated patients to flow diversion or 1 of 4 alternative standard management options (coiling with/without stent placement, parent vessel occlusion, surgical clipping, or observation) as prespecified by clinical judgment. Patients ineligible for alternative standard management options were treated with flow diversion in a registry. The primary safety outcome was death or dependency (mRS > 2) at 3 months. The composite primary efficacy outcome included the core lab-determined angiographic presence of a residual aneurysm, aneurysm rupture, progressive mass effect during follow-up, or death or dependency (mRS > 2) at 3-12 months. RESULTS Between May 2011 and November 2020, three hundred twenty-three patients were recruited: Two hundred seventy-eight patients (86%) had treatment randomly allocated (139 to flow diversion and 139 to alternative standard management options), and 45 (14%) received flow diversion in the registry. Patients in the randomized trial frequently had unruptured (83%), large (52% ≥10 mm) carotid (64%) aneurysms. Death or dependency at 3 months occurred in 16/138 patients who underwent flow diversion and 12/137 patients receiving alternative standard management options (relative risk, 1.33; 95% CI, 0.65-2.69; P = .439). A poor primary efficacy outcome was found in 30.9% (43/139) with flow diversion and 45.6% (62/136) of patients receiving alternative standard management options, with an absolute risk difference of 14.7% (95% CI, 3.3%-26.0%; relative risk, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.50-0.92; P = .014). CONCLUSIONS For patients with mostly unruptured, large, anterior circulation (carotid) aneurysms, flow diversion was more effective than the alternative standard management option in terms of angiographic outcome.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Raymond
- From the Department of Radiology (J.R., D.I., W.B., J.D.B.D., R.K., A.W., D.R.), Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - D Iancu
- From the Department of Radiology (J.R., D.I., W.B., J.D.B.D., R.K., A.W., D.R.), Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada
- Departments of Radiology (D.I.)
| | - W Boisseau
- From the Department of Radiology (J.R., D.I., W.B., J.D.B.D., R.K., A.W., D.R.), Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - J D B Diestro
- From the Department of Radiology (J.R., D.I., W.B., J.D.B.D., R.K., A.W., D.R.), Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - R Klink
- From the Department of Radiology (J.R., D.I., W.B., J.D.B.D., R.K., A.W., D.R.), Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - M Chagnon
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics (M.C., J.Z.), Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
| | - J Zehr
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics (M.C., J.Z.), Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
| | - B Drake
- Surgery (B.D., H.L.), Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - H Lesiuk
- Surgery (B.D., H.L.), Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - A Weill
- From the Department of Radiology (J.R., D.I., W.B., J.D.B.D., R.K., A.W., D.R.), Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - D Roy
- From the Department of Radiology (J.R., D.I., W.B., J.D.B.D., R.K., A.W., D.R.), Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - M W Bojanowski
- Department of Neurosurgery (M.W.B., C.C.), Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Notre-Dame Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - C Chaalala
- Department of Neurosurgery (M.W.B., C.C.), Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Notre-Dame Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | | | - C O'Kelly
- Surgery (C.O., M.M.C., T.E.D.), Division of Neurosurgery, University of Alberta Hospital, Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - M M Chow
- Surgery (C.O., M.M.C., T.E.D.), Division of Neurosurgery, University of Alberta Hospital, Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - S Bracard
- Neuroradiology (S.B.), CHRU de Nancy, Nancy, Lorraine, France
| | - T E Darsaut
- Surgery (C.O., M.M.C., T.E.D.), Division of Neurosurgery, University of Alberta Hospital, Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Darsaut TE, Fahed R, Raymond J. Unruptured aneurysms: Why observational studies fall short no matter how "Big" the Data. Neurochirurgie 2021; 67:330-335. [PMID: 33713661 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuchi.2021.02.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2020] [Revised: 11/09/2020] [Accepted: 02/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The best management of unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs) remains unknown, despite multiple observational studies. A randomized trial (RCT) is in order. Yet, a National Institute Neurological Disorders and Stroke workshop has once again proposed to use prospective observational studies (POS) of large databases to address such problems. METHODS We review the historical misconceptions that have been associated with observations of UIAs and their treatments. We critically examine some recent methods that have been proposed to address shortcomings of observational studies. We finally review the ethical principles underlying the use of trial methods in the care of patients. RESULTS Replacing RCTs with POS submits patients to management options that have never been proven beneficial, while making them involuntary research subjects of studies that are inevitably biased. A science of practice cannot be an outsider's examination of the behavior of clinicians incapable of questioning their practice. The thesis we propose is that a science of practice must not only eventually determine what best practice will be; It must engage agents involved in medical practice to transparently reveal the uncertainty that calls for management options to be offered under the guidance of declared and controlled care research, to optimize patient outcomes in spite of the uncertainty. CONCLUSION To use POS rather than RCTs in medical practice is to renege on scientific and ethical principles that characterize modern medicine. Instead, we must learn to integrate care research into our practice to provide optimal medical care in real time.
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Affiliation(s)
- T E Darsaut
- Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Mackenzie Health Sciences Center, University of Alberta hospital, 8440 112th Street, Edmonton, T6G 2B7 Alberta, Canada.
| | - R Fahed
- Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital-Civic Campus, 1053, Carling Avenue, K1Y 4E9 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
| | - J Raymond
- Service of Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, 1000, Saint-Denis, D03.5462B, H2X 0C1 Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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Darsaut TE, Raymond J. Practicing outcome-based medical care using pragmatic care trials. Trials 2020; 21:899. [PMID: 33121523 PMCID: PMC7599099 DOI: 10.1186/s13063-020-04829-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2020] [Accepted: 10/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The current separation between medical research and care is an obstacle to essential aspects of good medical practice: the verification that care interventions actually deliver the good outcomes they promise, and the use of scientific methods to optimize care under uncertainty. Pragmatic care trials have been designed to address these problems. Care trials are all-inclusive randomized trials integrated into care. Every item of trial design is selected in the best medical interest of participating patients. Care trials can eventually show what constitutes good medical practice based on patient outcomes. In the meantime, care trials give clinicians and patients the scientific methods necessary for optimization of medical care when no one really knows what to do.We report the progress of 9 randomized care trials that were used to guide the endovascular or surgical management of 1212 patients with acute stroke, intracranial aneurysms, and arteriovenous malformations in a single center in an elective or acute care context. Care trials were used to address long-standing dilemmas regarding rival medical, surgical, or endovascular management options or to offer innovative instead of standard treatments. The trial methodology, by replacing unrepeatable treatment decisions by 1:1 randomized allocation whenever reliable knowledge was not available, had an immediate impact, transforming unverifiable dogmatic medical practice into verifiable outcome-based medical care. We believe the approach is applicable to all medical or surgical domains, but widespread adoption may require the revision of many currently prevalent views regarding the role of research in clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim E. Darsaut
- Department of Surgery, Division of Neurosurgery, University of Alberta Hospital, Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre, 8440 - 112 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2B7 Canada
| | - Jean Raymond
- Department of Radiology, Service of Interventional Neuroradiology, Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal – CHUM, 1000 Saint-Denis street, room D03-5462B, Montreal, QC H2X 0C1 Canada
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