Project 1

Registry of Randomized Controlled Trials in Transplantation

The registry of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in transplantation was a regular Special Feature in Transplantation and was published every 6 months. It aims to facilitate access to the latest available evidence for the transplantation community. This first publication of the registry included RCTs that were published between January 1 and June 30 2004. The second registry included RCTs that were published between July 1 and December 31 2004. Subsequent registries have been published and appear every six months, with the final registry covering the last 6 months of 2006.

The registry provides a listing of recently published RCTs on solid organ transplantation. Solid organ transplantation includes transplantation of the liver, kidney, heart, lung, pancreas and small intestines. The registry lists the trials together with a brief aim of the study and quality score of the published report. The quality is assessed using the Jadad scale and two other important components of quality, ie concealment of allocation and whether the analysis was based on the intention-to-treat principle. An analysis of the randomised trial data for 2004 shows that the quality of trial methodology in organ transplantation is poor with only around one third of trials being of good quality.

In 2008 the published registry has been replaced by the electronic library of RCT’s in organ transplantation. (Transplantation Library), which includes all RCT’s back to 1970.