5,055,657 research outputs found
Estimating the causal effect of a time-varying treatment on time-to-event using structural nested failure time models
In this paper we review an approach to estimating the causal effect of a
time-varying treatment on time to some event of interest. This approach is
designed for the situation where the treatment may have been repeatedly adapted
to patient characteristics, which themselves may also be time-dependent. In
this situation the effect of the treatment cannot simply be estimated by
conditioning on the patient characteristics, as these may themselves be
indicators of the treatment effect. This so-called time-dependent confounding
is typical in observational studies. We discuss a new class of failure time
models, structural nested failure time models, which can be used to estimate
the causal effect of a time-varying treatment, and present methods for
estimating and testing the parameters of these models
Treatment Effect Quantification for Time-to-event Endpoints -- Estimands, Analysis Strategies, and beyond
A draft addendum to ICH E9 has been released for public consultation in
August 2017. The addendum focuses on two topics particularly relevant for
randomized confirmatory clinical trials: estimands and sensitivity analyses.
The need to amend ICH E9 grew out of the realization of a lack of alignment
between the objectives of a clinical trial stated in the protocol and the
accompanying quantification of the "treatment effect" reported in a regulatory
submission. We embed time-to-event endpoints in the estimand framework, and
discuss how the four estimand attributes described in the addendum apply to
time-to-event endpoints. We point out that if the proportional hazards
assumption is not met, the estimand targeted by the most prevalent methods used
to analyze time-to-event endpoints, logrank test and Cox regression, depends on
the censoring distribution. We discuss for a large randomized clinical trial
how the analyses for the primary and secondary endpoints as well as the
sensitivity analyses actually performed in the trial can be seen in the context
of the addendum. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to do
so for a trial with a time-to-event endpoint. Questions that remain open with
the addendum for time-to-event endpoints and beyond are formulated, and
recommendations for planning of future trials are given. We hope that this will
provide a contribution to developing a common framework based on the final
version of the addendum that can be applied to design, protocols, statistical
analysis plans, and clinical study reports in the future.Comment: 37 page
Monitoring Frequency of IntraāFraction Patient Motion Using the ExacTrac System for LINACābased SRS Treatments
Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the intraāfractional patient motion using the ExacTrac system in LINACābased stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS).
Method: A retrospective analysis of 104 SRS patients with kilovoltage imageāguided setup (Brainlab ExacTrac) data was performed. Each patient was imaged preātreatment, and at two time points during treatment (1st and 2nd midātreatment), and bony anatomy of the skull was used to establish setup error at each time point. The datasets included the translational and rotational setup error, as well as the time period between image acquisitions. After each image acquisition, the patient was repositioned using the calculated shift to correct the setup error. Only translational errors were corrected due to the absence of a 6D treatment table. Setup time and directional shift values were analyzed to determine correlation between shift magnitudes as well as time between acquisitions.
Results: The average magnitude translation was 0.64 Ā± 0.59 mm, 0.79 Ā± 0.45 mm, and 0.65 Ā± 0.35 mm for the preātreatment, 1st midātreatment, and 2nd midātreatment imaging time points. The average time from preātreatment image acquisition to 1st midātreatment image acquisition was 7.98 Ā± 0.45 min, from 1st to 2nd midātreatment image was 4.87 Ā± 1.96 min. The greatest translation was 3.64 mm, occurring in the preātreatment image. No patient had a 1st or 2nd midātreatment image with greater than 2 mm magnitude shifts.
Conclusion: There was no correlation between patient motion over time, in direction or magnitude, and duration of treatment. The imaging frequency could be reduced to decrease imaging dose and treatment time without significant changes in patient position
Time to revise COPD treatment algorithm
Parallel approach; Treatable traits; ICSEnfoque paralelo; Rasgos tratables; ICSEnfocament paralĀ·lel; Trets tractables; ICSIn 2017, a new two-step algorithm for the treatment of COPD was proposed. This algorithm was based on the severity of symptoms and phenotypes or treatable traits, and patient-specialised assessment targeting eosinophilic inflammation, chronic bronchitis, and frequent infections is recommended after exacerbation occurs despite maximal bronchodilation therapy. However, recent studies have revealed the clinical characteristics of patients who should have second controllers added, such as ICS. We again realized that treatable traits should be assessed and intervened for as early as possible. Moreover, the treatment algorithm is necessary to be adapted to the situation of clinical practice, taking into account the characteristics of the patients. The time to revise COPD treatment algorithm has come and we propose a new 3-step parallel approach for initial COPD treatment. After the diagnosis of COPD, the first assessment is to divide into two categories based on the usual clinical characteristics for patients with COPD and the specific clinical characteristics for each patient with concomitant disease. In the former, the assessment should be based on the level of dyspnea and the frequency of exacerbations. After the assessment, mono- or dual bronchodilator should be selected. In the latter, the assessment should be based on asthma characteristics, chronic bronchitis, and chronic heart failure. After the assessment, patients with asthmatic characteristics may consider treatment with ICS, while patients with chronic bronchitis may consider treatment with roflumilast and/or macrolide, while patients with chronic heart failure may consider treatment with selective Ī²1-blocker. The 3-step parallel approach is completed by adding an additional therapy for patients with concomitant disease to essential therapy for patients with COPD. In addition, it is important to review the response around 4 weeks after the initial therapy. This COPD management proposal might be considered as an approach based on patientsā clinical characteristics and on personalized therapy
Statistical modeling of causal effects in continuous time
This article studies the estimation of the causal effect of a time-varying
treatment on time-to-an-event or on some other continuously distributed
outcome. The paper applies to the situation where treatment is repeatedly
adapted to time-dependent patient characteristics. The treatment effect cannot
be estimated by simply conditioning on these time-dependent patient
characteristics, as they may themselves be indications of the treatment effect.
This time-dependent confounding is common in observational studies. Robins
[(1992) Biometrika 79 321--334, (1998b) Encyclopedia of Biostatistics 6
4372--4389] has proposed the so-called structural nested models to estimate
treatment effects in the presence of time-dependent confounding. In this
article we provide a conceptual framework and formalization for structural
nested models in continuous time. We show that the resulting estimators are
consistent and asymptotically normal. Moreover, as conjectured in Robins
[(1998b) Encyclopedia of Biostatistics 6 4372--4389], a test for whether
treatment affects the outcome of interest can be performed without specifying a
model for treatment effect. We illustrate the ideas in this article with an
example.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009053607000000820 the
Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
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