This process evaluation explores patient and healthcare professional acceptability of community-based monitoring versus hospital-based care for patients with quiescent neovascular age-related macular degeneration (QnAMD).

Qualitative process evaluation was conducted as part of a randomised controlled trial.

Six hospitals and six community-based practices.

25 patients and 16 healthcare professionals (ophthalmologists and optometrists). This approach helped differentiate between common issues and those specific to community-based monitoring.

The Quality-Assured Follow-Up of QnAMD by non-medical practitioners trial aimed to examine whether non-medical practitioners follow-up patients with QnAMD in the community in a safe and clinically and cost-effective way. The process evaluation aimed to examine whether the intervention was acceptable by patients and professionals. The process evaluation was based on interviews which contained open-ended questions focused on patient experience and confidence in community-based care, issues concerning the practicalities of the organisation and management of the clinic, and resources including IT and digital equipment. The theory of acceptability framework was used to interpret the findings.

Patients reported positively on the experience of receiving QnAMD services in the community and highlighted staff professionalism and clear communication. Key themes were the proximity of care provision for patients, IT interoperability and the real-world costs of running the service. Some patients randomised to the hospital showed preference for the intervention to take place in the hospital, mediated mainly by prior experience of hospital care and travel distance. The location of the clinic and transport routes affected the experience of attending appointments, with strong preference expressed for proximity to one’s home. Inaccessibility due to non-modifiable internal building structures in the community and parking in hospital eye services was reported by a small proportion of patients. Healthcare professionals reported positively about their ability to deliver QnAMD services in community settings but raised concerns about the compatibility of technological infrastructure that facilitates the sharing of optical coherence tomography image and video files. Some optometrists were also concerned about the financial sustainability of the intervention after the end of the trial due to the costs involved in the administration of QnAMD follow-up care.

The delivery of QnAMD services in the community by non-medical personnel was broadly accepted by both patients and practitioners. This implies that non-medical practitioners can follow up patients with QnAMD in the community in a safe way. Further research would be needed to establish whether similar results would be obtained during routine practice outside a research project and whether the long-term follow-up for QnAMD would be financially sustainable for independent as well as chain community optometry practices.

NCT03893474.

Endometriosis is a common, benign, chronic inflammatory disease with multiple consequences, from chronic pain to systemic comorbidities and poor quality of life. As it usually affects people of reproductive age, one of the most distressing consequences is infertility, which can be only partly overcome by medically assisted reproduction. Poor outcomes are, in fact, frequent adverse events. As no definitive therapy exists for endometriosis-related infertility, affected women often tend to try either complementary and alternative medicine or self-management strategies to improve their quality of life, with the hope of also enhancing their fertility. Among available options, dietary interventions are commonly explored, even if no robust evidence is available on the optimal type of diet and its effects on reproductive outcomes. This trial will investigate whether an anti-inflammatory dietary intervention can improve fertility outcomes in women affected by endometriosis undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

The DietAry interveNtion in ameliorating fertiliTy parameters in women with Endometriosis undergoing IVF (DANTE) study is a single-centre, randomised, controlled, non-pharmacological interventional trial in patients living with endometriosis who are infertile and require IVF. Participants will be allocated to either a 12-week intervention based on an anti-inflammatory diet or no diet before the beginning of controlled ovarian stimulation. Following baseline assessment, 438 participants aged

The study has received ethics approval from Comitato Etico Territoriale Lombardia 3 (#5587_18.12.2024). Results will be presented in peer-reviewed journals and at international conferences.

NCT06885125.

Hypoxaemic acute respiratory failure (ARF) in intensive care unit (ICU) patients is associated with high mortality. Three main devices are used to provide oxygen to hypoxaemic ARF patients: non-invasive ventilation (NIV), high-flow nasal cannula oxygen (HFNO) and standard oxygen (first-attempt device in usual care). To date, no multicentre randomised controlled study has compared NIV and HFNO to standard oxygen with day 28 mortality rate as primary outcome in hypoxaemic ARF in non-selected patients. Our hypothesis is that NIV and/or HFNO is superior to standard oxygen to reduce day 28 mortality rate in hypoxaemic ARF.

The Key oxygenation Interventions in Surgical and non-Surgical patients (KISS) trial is an adaptive investigator-initiated, multicentre, stratified, parallel-group unblinded trial with an electronic system–based randomisation. Patients with hypoxaemic ARF were randomly assigned to one of three groups: the ‘NIV-group’ to receive curative NIV combined with HFNO delivered between NIV trials, or the ‘HFNO’ group to receive HFNO alone, or the ‘standard oxygen-group’ to receive oxygen therapy alone.

The primary endpoint is day 28 all-cause mortality. The main secondary endpoint is intubation rate at day 28. The exploratory endpoints are intubation rates at day 3 and day 7; oxygenation up to day 7; need for other rescue oxygen therapy up to day 7; ICU and hospital length of stay; and mortality rates in ICU, hospital and at day 90.

The main objective is to assess if NIV and/or HFNO is superior to standard oxygen to reduce day 28 mortality rate in hypoxaemic ARF. Additional comparisons between predefined stratum following randomisation will be performed: (1) medical versus postoperative admissions, (2) among medical (immunocompromised vs non-immunocompromised) and (3) among postoperative (abdominal vs cardio-thoracic).

An adaptive design will be used. Two interim analyses will be performed after 700 and 1400 included patients among the 2100 planned.

The study project has been approved by the appropriate ethics committee ‘Comité-de-Protection-des-Personnes Sud-Est V-23-CHUM-01 Cat2 2022-A02761-42/1’. Informed consent is required. The results will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at one or more scientific conferences. If NIV and/or HFNO reduce the mortality at day 28, NIV and/or HFNO could be proposed to become one of the first-line therapies in hypoxaemic ARF patients.

NCT05812911.

In non-intubated patients, symptomatic treatment of hypoxaemic respiratory failure is still debated, with different options: (1) standard oxygen therapy (SOT), (2) high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy (HFNC) and (3) non-invasive ventilation (NIV). The objective of this study is to compare the effects of HFNC and NIV on lung volumes assessed by CT scan to allow a better understanding of their effectiveness.

The HONIVAH study (High-flow Oxygen therapy and Non-Invasive ventilation on lung Volumes and on upper Airway in Hypoxemic critically ill patients) is an investigator-initiated, prospective, single-centre, physiological, randomised, parallel-group, unblinded trial with an electronic system-based randomisation. Patients with hypoxaemic respiratory failure, defined as the need for SOT flow ≥3 L/min to maintain a pulsed oxygen saturation ≥95%, and a CT scan prescribed by the physician in charge of the patient, will be randomly assigned to the HFNC group or the NIV group. Two inspiratory thoracic CT scans will be performed, one with SOT as part of the routine patient management and a second thoracic CT scan with HFNC or NIV, depending on the allocation group. The primary outcome is the comparison of the relative variation in ‘poorly aerated’ and ‘non-aerated’ lung volumes before and after the intervention between the HFNC group and NIV group, assessed by thoracic CT scan. Secondary outcomes included the variation in tracheal cross-sectional upper airway area, lung volumes, gas exchange and patient comfort.

The study project has been approved by the appropriate ethics committee (Comité de Protection des Personnes Sud-Ouest et Outre-mer 1, France, 2022-A02458-35). Informed consent is required. The results will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at one or more scientific conferences.

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05643911.