Skip to main content
  • Oral presentation
  • Published:

Novel patient engagement and recruitment strategies for an RCY of two NHS treatments for ankle osteoarthritis - total ankle replacement versus arthrodesis - the TARVA trial

An Erratum to this article was published on 26 February 2016

TARVA is an NIHR HTA funded portfolio randomised controlled trial (RCT) comparing total ankle replacement (TAR) and arthrodesis (fusion) surgery in NHS patients aged 50-85 with end-stage ankle arthritis. 328 patients will be randomly allocated to TAR or arthrodesis on an equal basis.

Clinician and patient treatment equipoise is critical to recruit surgeons and patients successfully.

The TARVA Trial team has developed novel surgeon and patient engagement techniques involving technology and multi-media tools to achieve our aims. Examples include an award-winning video, a white-labelled patient information brochure, professional newsletters and blogs, and a particular focus on the use of social networking tools to engage both investigators and patients.

The impartial trial information video featuring consultant foot and ankle surgeons and patients who have undergone TAR or fusion surgery can be accessed through the trial website (http://anklearthritis.co.uk).

The pilot phase began with the randomisation of the first patient in March 2015. An overview of our techniques alongside recruitment data accumulated until November will be presented at the ICTM conference.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

An erratum to this article is available at http://0-dx-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1186/s13063-016-1218-3.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Goldberg, A., Thomson, C., Brooking, D. et al. Novel patient engagement and recruitment strategies for an RCY of two NHS treatments for ankle osteoarthritis - total ankle replacement versus arthrodesis - the TARVA trial. Trials 16 (Suppl 2), O94 (2015). https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1186/1745-6215-16-S2-O94

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1186/1745-6215-16-S2-O94

Keywords