Issue 12 NEWSLETTER March 2000 
The largest trial of corticosteroids in head injury
(but still some way to go!)
"We seem to be slowing down and there's an awful lot of smoke about…"
 
It's the start of The Long Drag: Friends of the Settle - Carlisle Line will know that all the effort will be worthwhile as the summit is reached and the bleakness of Blea Moor gives way to the rewarding scenery of the Eden Valley. CRASH is certainly in for the long slog and there are still a few smoke screens obscuring the view. We must push up recruitment across the board if we are to achieve the large numbers necessary to answer the trial question. There are two messages that enthusiasts ¾ who are still reading this ¾ need to get across to the doubtful ¾ who will have put the newsletter in the bin:

1. CRASH is about evidence. There is an absence of evidence for the effectiveness of corticosteroids on outcome after brain injury. This is NOT the same as evidence of absence of effectiveness. CRASH has been designed to reliably answer the corticosteroid question. Whichever way the result turns out it will be the first time that reliable evidence has been used to settle this emotive issue.

2. CRASH is a multi-disciplinary trial. There must be "joined up thinking" about it in your hospital, with nurses and doctors working together in the emergency department and with other clinicians within the catchment area of your neurosurgical service.

Please do get in touch with any member of the trial team via Nin or directly if you want any help ¾ and do remember, if your recruitment is looking bleak think of the Eden Valley! 

Professor David Yates, Hope Hospital, Salford, UK
 

Congratulations to all CRASH Collaborators for making the CRASH Trial the largest trial of corticosteroids in head injury

Patient recruitment by participating hospitals:

ABERDEEN ROYAL INFIRMARY UK             7
BATTICALOA GENERAL HOSPITAL  Sri Lanka              6
BIRMINGHAM HEARTLANDS HOSPITAL UK              5
BLACKBURN ROYAL INFIRMARY UK              4
BROMLEY HOSPITAL UK              1
BURY GENERAL HOSPITAL UK              1
CENTRE HOSPITALIER REGIONAL DE NAMUR Belgium             29
CHELTENHAM GENERAL HOSPITAL UK              9
COLCHESTER GENERAL HOSPITAL UK            13
COUNTESS OF CHESTER HOSPITAL UK              6
DONCASTER ROYAL INFIRMARY UK              2
EASTBOURNE DISTRICT GENERAL HOSPITAL UK            11
FURNESS GENERAL HOSPITAL UK              4
HARROGATE DISTRICT HOSPITAL UK              1
HOPE HOSPITAL UK            55
HOSPITAL PRIBRAM Czech Republic              1
LEEDS GENERAL INFIRMARY UK              2
NATIONAL HOSPITAL OF SRI LANKA Sri Lanka              8
NORTH MANCHESTER GENERAL HOSPITAL UK             39
PRINCESS ALEXANDRA HOSPITAL UK               1
QUEEN ELIZABETH HOSPITAL (BIRMINGHAM) UK               1
QUEEN ELIZABETH HOSPITAL (GATESHEAD) UK               1
QUEEN ELIZABETH THE QUEEN MOTHER UK               7
REIMANN HOSPITAL Slovakia              6
RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR SPECIAL SURGERY AND TRAUMA Czech Republic            98
ROYAL BOLTON HOSPITAL UK             14
ROYAL LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL UK               2
ROYAL OLDHAM HOSPITAL UK               3
SELLY OAK HOSPITAL UK               4
ST JAMES HOSPITAL Eire              8
STEPPING HILL HOSPITAL UK               6
TRAFFORD GENERAL HOSPITAL UK               7
WENTWORTH HOSPITAL South Africa              19
WHISTON HOSPITAL UK               8 


 
CRASH Trial Co-ordinator, Nin Ritchie

CRASH Co-ordinating Centre, FREEPOST LON 14211, LONDON WC1N 1BR

Tel: + 44 (0)20 7299 4684 Fax: + 44 (0)20 7299 4663 email: CRASH@lshtm.ac.uk

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