J. Maxwell Chamberlain memorial paper for general thoracic surgeryLong-Term Follow-Up of Patients Receiving Lung-Volume-Reduction Surgery Versus Medical Therapy for Severe Emphysema by the National Emphysema Treatment Trial Research Group
Section snippets
Patients and Methods
The design and methods of NETT have been described previously [9]. The proposed trial was reviewed and approved by the institutional review boards of the 17 clinical centers and 1 coordinating center that were involved. Informed consent was obtained from every patient before enrollment in the trial.
Results
Between January 1998 and July 2002, 3777 patients were evaluated and 1218 patients were randomized: 608 to surgery (LVRS group) and 610 to medical therapy (medical group). The groups had similar postrehabilitation baseline characteristics except for a higher proportion of men in the medical group (Table 1). Of the surviving patients, 70% participated in the extension of follow-up conducted between January 2003 and December 2003, and 76% participated in the mailed quality of life data collection
Comment
The original publication of NETT results had a median follow-up of 2.4 years. It provided robust estimates of the risks and benefits of LVRS because of the trial’s large sample size, stringent randomization, low crossover rates, multi-institutional setting, exacting follow-up, and well-defined measurements. Continued follow-up (median 4.3 years) confirms the fundamental observations and conclusions drawn in the initial NETT report and extends these findings by demonstrating the durability of
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Cited by (0)
Authors listed comprise NETT Research Group Writing Committee. The full list of NETT Research Group members appears at the end of the article in the NETT Credit Roster.
The online version of this article contains extensive additional information and subgroup analyses of these patients in an Appendix, and is highly recommended for students of this National Institutes of Health trial. To access the online-only Appendix, please visit http://ats.ctsnetjournals.org and search for the article by Naunheim, Vol. 82, pages 431–43.e1–19.