National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network Coordinating Centre, Leeds, UK.
Br J Cancer. 2011 May 10;104(10):1529-34. doi: 10.1038/bjc.2011.69. Epub 2011 Mar 1.
In 1999, 270,000 cases of cancer were registered in the United Kingdom, placing a large burden on the NHS. Cancer outcome data in 1999 suggested that UK survival rates were poorer than most other European countries. In the same year, a Department of Health review noted that clinical trials accrual was poor (<3.5% of incident cases) and hypothesised that increasing research activity might improve outcomes and reduce the variability of outcomes across England. Thus, the National Cancer Research Network (NCRN) was established to increase participation in cancer clinical research.
The NCRN was established in 2001 to provide a robust infrastructure for cancer clinical research and improvements in patient care. Remit of NCRN is to coordinate, support and deliver cancer clinical research through the provision of research support staff across England. The NCRN works closely with similar networks in Scotland, Wales and the Northern Ireland. A key aim of NCRN is to improve the speed of research and this was also assessed by comparing the speed of study delivery of a subset of cancer studies opening before and after NCRN was established.
Patient recruitment increased through NCRN, with almost 32,000 (12% of annual incident cases) cancer patients being recruited each year. Study delivery has improved, with more studies meeting the recruitment target - 74% compared with 39% before NCRN was established.
The coordinated approach to cancer clinical research has demonstrated increased accrual, wide participation and successful trial delivery, which should lead to improved outcomes and care.
1999 年，英国登记了 27 万例癌症病例，这给国民保健制度（NHS）带来了巨大的负担。1999 年的癌症预后数据表明，英国的生存率比大多数其他欧洲国家差。同年，卫生部的一项审查指出，临床试验的入组率很低（<3.5%的新发病例），并假设增加研究活动可能会改善结果并减少英格兰各地结果的变异性。因此，成立了国家癌症研究网络（NCRN）以增加癌症临床研究的参与度。
NCRN 成立于 2001 年，旨在为癌症临床研究提供强大的基础设施，并改善患者的护理。NCRN 的任务是通过在英格兰各地提供研究支持人员，协调、支持和开展癌症临床研究。NCRN 与苏格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰的类似网络密切合作。NCRN 的一个主要目标是提高研究速度，这也通过比较 NCRN 成立前后开始的一组癌症研究的研究交付速度来评估。
通过 NCRN，患者的招募人数有所增加，每年有近 32000 名（占年发病例的 12%）癌症患者被招募。研究的交付情况有所改善，更多的研究达到了招募目标-74%，而 NCRN 成立前为 39%。
癌症临床研究的协调方法已经证明了入组人数的增加、广泛的参与和成功的试验交付，这应该会导致结果和护理的改善。
