An article by Center Assistant Professor Dr. Laura Cabrera has been published in the November 2019 issue of Bioethics. The article, “A human rights approach to low data reporting in clinical trials of psychiatric deep brain stimulation,” advocates for “the importance of reporting clinical trial data of invasive procedures in highly vulnerable populations, such as psychiatric DBS trials.”
Abstract: The reporting of clinical trial data is necessary not only for doctors to determine treatment efficacy, but also to explore new questions without unnecessarily repeating trials, and to protect patients and the public from dangers when data are withheld. This issue is particularly salient in those trials involving invasive neurosurgical interventions, such as deep brain stimulation (DBS), for ‘treatment refractory’ psychiatric disorders. Using the federal database ClinicalTrials.gov, it was discovered that out of the completed or unknown‐status trials related to psychiatric DBS up to November 2018, only two had submitted results to ClinicalTrials.gov. These results suggest that, despite federal requirements to report clinical trial data, reporting on psychiatric DBS trials is problematically minimal. It is argued that a human rights approach to this problem establishes a legal and ethical foundation for the need to report clinical trial results in this area.
The full text is available online via Wiley Online Library (MSU Library or other institutional access may be required to view this article).
MSU Bioethics 