COT-11 EFFECT OF PHYSICIAN SUPPORTS ON QUALITY CONTROL AND QUALITY ASSURANCE IN CLINICAL BRAIN TUMOR RESEARCH

BACKGROUND: Clinical physicians have difficulties in conducting investigator-initiated-trials because of increasing clinical duties in Japan. Therefore, physician support can be one of the important factors for quality control and quality assurance. In Kyoto University Hospital, clinical research professional’s support for physician had started at November 2012. In this study, we evaluate effect of physician supports on quality control and quality assurance in clinical brain tumor research. METHODS: Our department of Neurosurgery has been a member of Brain Tumor Study Group in Japan Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG) since 2007. The number of registered patients, the status of periodic monitoring, the occurrence of inquiries per case, and details of physicians’ support (items, frequency, methods, etc.) in each clinical trial were investigated. The factors affecting the audit results conducted by JCOG Audit Committee on January 2013 and February 2019 are examined. RESULTS: There are seven trials have been ongoing on or started since November 2012. There are fifty patients registered in the clinical studies until July 2019. Periodic monitoring has been carried out in 214 patients of cumulative total number since 2012. Physicians’ support mainly involved the preparation of ethical review documents, CRF documentation, responses to data queries, preparation of SAE reports, study schedule check and monitoring of observation items. The audit results of site visit were acceptable, total evaluation score 68.80 on January 2013 and excellent, total evaluation score 99.9 on February 2019. CONCLUSION: Clinical Trials Act has been implemented, and further improvement in the quality of clinical trials has been demanded. As the results of this study, we clarified the necessity for physician support and the contribution to quality improvement.