CIGTS is model for a new glaucoma study
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Two years ago at a meeting sponsored by the National Eye Institute, epidemiologist David C. Musch, Ph.D., M.P.H., was introduced to a Chinese ophthalmologist by a mutual colleague who said, "You two have got to talk." This past spring Dr. Musch flew to Beijing to meet with Yuanbo Liang, M.D., Ph.D., and his professor, Dr. Ningli Wang.
As Dr. Musch found out in that first conversation, Dr. Liang was in the early stages of constructing a large clinical trial that was much like the Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study (CIGTS), for which Dr. Musch was co-principal investigator and coordinating center director for 11 years. The Chinese trial, however, would focus on angle-closure glaucoma, the most common form of glaucoma in China.
After several rounds of discussions, it became clear that this complicated trial needed a co-investigator with Dr. Musch's background and he has recently been asked to join the study group, now named the Initial Treatment Study of Primary Angle-Closure Glaucoma. "I never imagined that I would be in China developing a major clinical study. It's a fascinating opportunity."
In May, Dr. Musch met with Dr. Liang and colleagues at the Beijing Tongren Eye Hospital. During his stay, Dr. Musch presented lectures, discussed the principles of statistical approaches used in clinical trials, and provided guidance and hands-on assistance in their efforts to plan for a large multi-center collaborative trial.
Like CIGTS, this trial will use many centers, possibly even 15, in and around Beijing. Unlike trials in the U.S., the recruitment goal should be fairly easy to achieve; the Beijing Tongren Eye Hospital alone sees thousands of patients each day. Patient visits are not scheduled; prospective patients line up with their families in the corridors outside of the Eye Hospital's many clinics.
Dr. Musch will travel to Beijing again this fall after the trial has been launched. Until then, as the team's study design expert, he will be advising his new colleagues on protocols, recruitment efforts, community center oversight, and the myriad other details necessary to run a large-scale clinical trial.
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