Newsletter
Issue 11 Autumn 2007

CRASH2 logo
7,000 RANDOMISED PATIENTS

Dear Collaborators,

As the year 2007 ends, we would like to let you know of some of the fantastic achievements you have had in your trial over the last year, and our plans for 2008.

It seems a long time ago when in our February newsletter we were able to report that HTA had agreed to fund the trial. This gave us the security to push on with our task of recruiting patients. By the end of this year over 7,000 patients will have been recruited. This means we were able to recruit over 4,000 patients in 2007 alone. You have already made CRASH-2 the largest trial in trauma patients with bleeding ever conducted. Our collaborative group has grown even bigger and now includes over 150 active hospitals in 33 countries.

Recruitment Nov06-Oct07

National collaborator meetings have been held in various countries this year and we would like to thank all the investigators who give freely of their time and experience to make these meetings successful. Together we are making a huge change in the paradigm of trauma care research and we are showing that it is possible to carry out large, high quality, research projects on relevant clinical questions. So congratulations to all!

Our target for next year is to double the recruitment, so we will need 8,000 patients recruited (no easy target)! We know that this is very achievable as many of you have been inviting others to join the collaboration. We still need the help of all our collaborators to spread the word to others.

Congratulations again for a successful 2007 and we look forward to the next year! From your coordinating team

Mexico November 07
National meeting in Mexico, May 2007

Peru November 07
National Meeting in Peru in November 2007
Cuba May 07
National meeting in Cuba in May 2007

Albania June 07
National meeting in Albania, June 2007

GEORGIA NO CONSENT APPROVAL

A successful national meeting was also held in Georgia in May. The Georgian drug agency have just given their approval to recruit patients into the trial without prior written consent.

We hope that this ruling will significantly increase the patient recruitment in the three active centres in Georgia, and hopefully encourage new hospitals to join. To date 253 patients have been randomised in Georgia.


STAR RECRUITERS

500
Carlos Morales, Hospital Universitario San Vicente de Paul, Colombia

50 RANDOMISED PATIENTS

  • Jorge Herrera Chaparro, Hospital Universitario San Jose de Popayan, Colombia
  • Daimi Ricardo Martinez, Hospital General Univ "Carlos Manuel de Céspedes”, Cuba
  • Eugenio Casola, Hospital Provincial Docente "Manuel Ascunce Domenech", Cuba
  • Marcelo Ochoa Parra, Hospital Jose Carrasco Arteaga, Ecuador
  • Nikoloz Kvachadze, Tbilisi State Medical University, ER Department, Georgia
  • P V Ramana, Care Hospital, India
  • Pankaj Patel, Sheth VS General Hospital, India
  • Jorge Loria Castellanos, Hospital General Regional 25, Mexico
  • Lawal Khalid, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria
  • Lateef Thanni, Olabisi Onabanjo Univ Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

new ethics approvals:

  • Christian Dellera, Hospital "4 de Junio" Dr Ramon Carrillo, Argentina
  • Gustavo Quintana, Hospital San Martin de la Plata, Argentina
  • Babu Kailash Pansey, Ananat Institute of Medical Sciences, India
  • P Suryanarayan, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, India
  • N K Venkataramana, BGS Global Hospital, India
  • Narayana Reddy, Chettinad Hospital & Research Institute, India
  • S Rajasekaran, Ganga Hospital, India
  • Varsha Sagdeo, Government Medical College & Superspeciality Hospital Nagpur, India
  • K R Patond, Kasturba Hospital of Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, India
  • Alfred Augustine, Kasturba Medical College Hospital, India
  • Sanjay Shantilal Vhora, Ruby Hall Clinic, India
  • K S Rajan, Sanjeevani Hospital, India
  • Seyed Ali Ziaee, Erfan Hospital, Iran
  • Jose Caballero, Hospital Regional Docente de Trujillo, Peru
  • Robert Stephen Moore, Countess of Chester Hospital, UK
  • Luis Felipe de los Rios, Hospital General del Sur "Dr Pedro Iturbe", Venezuela

7000 patients randomised

started randomisation:

  • Julio Horacio Cattaneo, Hospital Angel Cruz Padilla, Argentina
  • Laureano Quintero, Hospital Universitario del Valle, Colombia
  • Lensky Aragon Palmero, Hospital Antonio Luaces Iraola, Cuba
  • Anil Lal, Aditya Neuroscience Centre, India
  • Protyush Chatterjee, Bhattacharya Orthopaedic and Related Research Centre, India
  • Narayana Reddy, Chettinad Hospital&Research Institute, India
  • M Chidambaram, Government Rajaji Hospital, India
  • Sojan Ipe, MOSC Medical College Hospital, India
  • Sushil Mankar, NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences & Lata Mangeshkar Hospital
  • Seyed Ali Ziaee, Erfan Hospital, Iran
  • Patricia Ortega Leon, Hospital General de Uruapan "Dr Pedro Daniel Martínez", Mexico
  • Raul Bautista Cruz, Hospital Gustavo Rovirosa, Mexico
  • Emmanuel Domingo Inyang, Federal Medical Centre Yenagoa, Nigeria
  • Stanley Anyanwu, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria
  • Akpan Out & Tim Nottidge, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Nigeria
  • Cesar Eduardo Malca Polo, Clinica Santa Ana, Peru
  • Juan de Dios Velez, Hospital La Caleta, Peru
  • Diana Rodriguez, Hospital Nacional Arzobispo Loayza, Peru
  • Ranjith Ellawala, National Hospital, Sri Lanka
  • Peter Burdett-Smith, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, UK
  • Yacub Mulla, University Teaching Hospital Lusaka, Zambia
Background image: Bhattacharya Hospital, India
cochrane corner
Cochrane logo
The systematic review about the use of an anti-fibrinolytic for minimising the need for perioperative allogeneic blood transfusion (Henry et al.) has been recently updated. This update included 211 randomised controlled trials that recruited 20,781 patients. The authors’ main conclusions were that anti-fibrinolytic drugs provide worthwhile reductions in blood loss and the need for allogeneic red cell transfusion, that efficacy does not appear to be offset by serious adverse events, and that tranexamic acid is probably as effective as aprotinin.

The full text of the review can be accessed through The Cochrane Library (www.thecochranelibrary.com). For more information about the Cochrane Injuries Group and to access abstracts of other systematic reviews, please visit www.cochrane-injuries.Lshtm.ac.uk.

Reference:
Henry DA, Carless PA, Moxey AJ, O'Connell D, Stokes BJ, McClelland B, Laupacis A, Fergusson D Anti-fibrinolytic use for minimising perioperative allogeneic blood transfusion Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 4. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001886.pub2


I started working as an Assistant Trials Manager in September. My background is in laboratory research and I have a PhD in molecular biology. One of my roles in the CRASH-2 trial is to assist our collaborators in India and Sri Lanka and I hope to help make the trial a success in these countries. I’m enjoying working on a clinical study and am happy to be part of such an important international collaboration.

Taemi Kawahara
Taemi Kawahara
Lisa Cook
Lisa Cook
I have just joined the CRASH-2 team as an Assistant Trials Manager. I will be helping collaborators in Asia, Australasia and parts of Eastern Europe with all aspects of the trial. I have previously worked in HIV clinical trials, but working in trauma is a new challenge for me. I am very much looking forward to working on such a large and important international trial, and to getting to know collaborators around the world!