Clinical trials tasks and activities are widely diverse and require certain skill sets to both plan and execute. This book provides professionals in the field of clinical research with valuable information on the challenging issues of the design, execution, and management of clinical trials, and how to resolve these issues effectively. It discusses key obstacles such as challenges to patient recruitment, investigator and study site selection, and dealing with compliance issues. Through practical examples, professionals working with medical device clinical trials will discover the appropriate steps to take.

An essential introduction to conducting the various stages of medical device clinical trials Clinical research continues to be one of the most vital components of pharmaceutical, biostatistical, and medical studies. Design, Execution, and Management of Medical Device Clinical Trials provides a uniform methodology for conducting and managing clinical trials. Written in a style that is accessible to readers from diverse educational and professional backgrounds, this book provides an in-depth and broad overview for successfully performing clinical tasks and activities. Throughout the book, practical examples compiled from both the author's and other researchers' previous clinical trial experiences are discussed in a sequential manner as they occur in the study, starting from the development of the clinical protocol and the selection of clinical sites and ending with the completion of the final clinical study report. Next, readers are guided through the development of important clinical documents, including informed consent forms, case report forms, and study logs. A careful review of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) regulations applicable to medical devices is also featured. Additional coverage includes: Qualification and selection of investigators Study monitoring visits Definitions and reporting procedures for adverse events The use of biostatistical methodology in clinical research, including the use of biostatistics for sample size determination and study endpoints The roles and responsibilities of all members of a clinical research team The book concludes with an insightful discussion of special ethical conduct for human research and challenging issues to consider during the design of clinical studies. A glossary lists important clinical and statistical terms used in clinical research, and an extensive reference section provides additional resources for the most up-to-date literature on the topic. Design, Execution, and Management of Medical Device Clinical Trials is an excellent book for clinical research or epidemiology courses at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also an indispensable reference for clinical research associates, clinical managers, clinical scientists, biostatisticians, pharmacologists, and any professional working in the field of clinical research who would like to better understand clinical research practices.

Clinical trials are used to elucidate the most appropriate preventive, diagnostic, or treatment options for individuals with a given medical condition. Perhaps the most essential feature of a clinical trial is that it aims to use results based on a limited sample of research participants to see if the intervention is safe and effective or if it is comparable to a comparison treatment. Sample size is a crucial component of any clinical trial. A trial with a small number of research participants is more prone to variability and carries a considerable risk of failing to demonstrate the effectiveness of a given intervention when one really is present. This may occur in phase I (safety and pharmacologic profiles), II (pilot efficacy evaluation), and III (extensive assessment of safety and efficacy) trials. Although phase I and II studies may have smaller sample sizes, they usually have adequate statistical power, which is the committee's definition of a "large" trial. Sometimes a trial with eight participants may have adequate statistical power, statistical power being the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when the hypothesis is false. Small Clinical Trials assesses the current methodologies and the appropriate situations for the conduct of clinical trials with small sample sizes. This report assesses the published literature on various strategies such as (1) meta-analysis to combine disparate information from several studies including Bayesian techniques as in the confidence profile method and (2) other alternatives such as assessing therapeutic results in a single treated population (e.g., astronauts) by sequentially measuring whether the intervention is falling above or below a preestablished probability outcome range and meeting predesigned specifications as opposed to incremental improvement.

The intent of this book (MDDR, for short) is to present an introduction to, and overview of, the world of medical device regulation by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the relationship of this regulatory scheme to the design and development of medical devices. In providing this information, the book covers the broad range of requirements, which are presented within eight major topics: background and regulatory environment, device design control, nonclinical testing, clinical testing, marketing applications, post-market requirements, quality systems/GMPs, and compliance/enforcement. This book provides students and professionals in the medical device industry with a road map to the regulation of medical devices. It provides a broad understanding of the breadth and depth of medical device regulation by collecting in one textbook coverage of the regulatory scheme for medical devices in terms that are suitable for engineers, scientists, and healthcare providers. The vast amount of information available on the subject is distilled into a concise and coherent presentation. There also are problems and projects at the end of each chapter. In addition to the usual questions requiring specific answers, the projects include the drafting of a device control plan, the development of a nonclinical test procedure, the resolution of a recall, the response to a Warning Letter, and the creation of a CAPA for a device deficiency. A solutions manual for these exercises is available to teachers who adopt the textbook for classroom use or for employee training. Medical Device Design and Regulation (MDDR) also makes available over 100 complimentary live hyperlinks to web pages with additional relevant information, and offers users the opportunity to join and participate in the “MDDR Users Group” on LinkedIn.

The world is changing rapidly, and nowhere is this more apparent than in medicine. The standards are rapidly rising in the field of medical device trials. A few years ago, device developers would look askance if one told them that medical device trials and drug trials should have the same stan dards. Today, such a statement does not seem as outrageous, although there is still a large gap in the design of trials and number oftrials conducted for medical device and drug development programs. More than 20 years after the enactment of the US Medical Device Amendments, we can see that they served as an impetus to raise clinical trial standards for devices. Whether the data to establish the safety and efficacy of a device come from one, two, or even more clinical trials is less important in evaluating the device than whether the data are medically and scientifically support ive of its safety and efficacy. Having at least two separate studies, and at least two sites confirm results, adds a great deal of scientific credibility and support to a conclusion of safety and efficacy, even though a confirmatory trial is not yet a regulatory requirement in most countries.

Describing all the regulations, guidelines and directives that affect medical device studies.