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Trial registered on ANZCTR
Registration number
ACTRN12612000353897
Ethics application status
Approved
Date submitted
26/03/2012
Date registered
28/03/2012
Date last updated
19/04/2016
Type of registration
Prospectively registered
Titles & IDs
Public title
When reconstructing defects in the skull is it safer and more cost effective to use a patients own bone or a custom made titanium plate
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Scientific title
A single blinded randomised controlled trial comparing the safety efficacy and cost effectiveness of autologous bone compared with custom made titanium for reconstructive cranioplasty
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Secondary ID [1]
280221
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Nil
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Universal Trial Number (UTN)
U1111-1129-4840
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Trial acronym
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Linked study record
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Health condition
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied:
Traumatic brain injury
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Stroke
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Subarachnoid haemorrhage
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Condition category
Condition code
Surgery
286360
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0
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Surgical techniques
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Neurological
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0
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Other neurological disorders
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Intervention/exposure
Study type
Interventional
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Description of intervention(s) / exposure
Cranioplasty with either custom made titanium or autologous bone in patients requiring reconstruction of a skull defect. The surgical procedure in either case takes approximately one hour. The number of procedures performed will be no differant to what usually occurs because all patients who have a large skull defect will need to have a cranioplasty procedure in order to restore the cosmetic and protective function of the skull
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Intervention code [1]
284551
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Treatment: Surgery
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Intervention code [2]
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Treatment: Devices
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Comparator / control treatment
Usual method of reconstruction which is the patients own bone (Autologous cranioplasty). The bone that has been removed is stored in a designated refridgerator until the pathological process that caused the acute brain swelling has subsided. (e.g. traumatic brain injury, ischaemic stroke, Subarachnoid haemorrhage). Once the brain swelling has resolved the patient is taken back to theatre and the previous incision is reopened and the bone replaced and secured with miniplates. The procedure takes approximately one hour. Only one procedure is required
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Control group
Active
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Outcomes
Primary outcome [1]
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The primary outcome measures will be failure of the cranioplasty such that it requires removal (due to infection, resorption, dislodgement or severe cosmetic failure), as well as any significant adverse events attributable to treatment allocation. The patients will be followed up in the outpatients department at 3, 6, and 12 months post surgery. The patients will be clinically examined to assess adverse events such as wound breakdown, infection and cosmetic deformity. At twelve months a CT scan of the brain will assess whether the autologous bone has undergone significant resorption
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Assessment method [1]
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Timepoint [1]
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One year post surgery
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Secondary outcome [1]
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Total hospital costs incurred by the two groups of patients over a one year period. This will include manufacture of the custom made cranioplasties (both as a primary and for those that fail as a secondary procedure), length of additional hospital days due to complications (excluding ongoing hospital inpatient requirements), antibiotics, theatre time and follow up appointments.
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Assessment method [1]
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Timepoint [1]
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One year post surgery
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Secondary outcome [2]
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Quantitative bone volume loss between early post-op CT and CT at one year using BrainLAB stereotactic software.
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Assessment method [2]
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Timepoint [2]
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One year post surgery
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Secondary outcome [3]
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Quality of life as measured by SF-36
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Assessment method [3]
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Timepoint [3]
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One year post surgery
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Eligibility
Key inclusion criteria
Adult patients in Western Australia who have undergone craniectomy and who are awaiting a cranioplasty procedure.
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Minimum age
16
Years
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Maximum age
No limit
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Sex
Both males and females
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Can healthy volunteers participate?
No
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Key exclusion criteria
Patients who have had a previous cranial infection and patients who do not have an autologous bone flap
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Study design
Purpose of the study
Treatment
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Allocation to intervention
Randomised controlled trial
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Procedure for enrolling a subject and allocating the treatment (allocation concealment procedures)
Eligible patients will be identified in the in the neurosurgical clinic or neurosurgical ward and they will be approached by the study investigators. After informed consent is given and documented, each will be randomised using online randomisation software approximately eight weeks prior to their intended date for surgery. Research participants and assessment staff will be blinded to treatment allocation.
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Methods used to generate the sequence in which subjects will be randomised (sequence generation)
Patients will be randomised according to a random number sequence generated by a random number software and all randomisation numbers are concealed inside sequentially numbered sealed envelopes.
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Masking / blinding
Blinded (masking used)
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Who is / are masked / blinded?
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Intervention assignment
Parallel
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Other design features
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Phase
Not Applicable
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Type of endpoint/s
Efficacy
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Statistical methods / analysis
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Recruitment
Recruitment status
Completed
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Date of first participant enrolment
Anticipated
24/04/2012
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Actual
2/04/2012
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Date of last participant enrolment
Anticipated
2/04/2015
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Actual
7/08/2014
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Date of last data collection
Anticipated
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Actual
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Sample size
Target
64
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Accrual to date
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Final
64
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Recruitment in Australia
Recruitment state(s)
WA
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Funding & Sponsors
Funding source category [1]
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Government body
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Name [1]
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Western Australian State Health Research Advisory Council
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Address [1]
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Western Australian Department of Health
189 Royal Street
East Perth
6004
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Country [1]
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Australia
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Primary sponsor type
Hospital
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Name
Royal Perth Hospital
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Address
Wellington Street
Perth WA 6001
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Country
Australia
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Secondary sponsor category [1]
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None
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Name [1]
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Address [1]
283839
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Country [1]
283839
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Ethics approval
Ethics application status
Approved
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Ethics committee name [1]
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Royal Perth Hospital HUMAN RESEARCH ETHICS COMMITTEE
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Ethics committee address [1]
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Wellington Street Perth WA 6001
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Ethics committee country [1]
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Australia
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Date submitted for ethics approval [1]
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Approval date [1]
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28/02/2012
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Ethics approval number [1]
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EC 2012/126
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Ethics committee name [2]
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Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Human Research Ethics Committee
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Ethics committee address [2]
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Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Hospital Avenue Nedlands Perth WA 6000
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Ethics committee country [2]
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Australia
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Date submitted for ethics approval [2]
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14/03/2012
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Approval date [2]
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30/05/2012
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Ethics approval number [2]
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2012-052
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Summary
Brief summary
Cranial bone defects are often left following brain surgery usually to allow swelling of the brain to recover before subsequently re-implanting protective covering of the brain at a later time (cranioplasty). These procedure are performed anywhere over the the cranial vault, either unilaterally or bilaterally. The original piece of bone (autologous bone plate = bone flap) is placed in a sterile container and stored in a refrigerator at temperature of -40degrees celcius. Weeks or months later, when the brain is relaxed, the scalp well healed, and the patient’s medical condition permits, the individual is taken back to the operating theatre and the bone is reimplanted (A procedure known as an autologous cranioplasty). The aim of the procedure is to restore cosmesis and protection to the underlying brain and it can sometimes also improve neurological symptoms by unknown mechanisms. Unfortunately these aims are not always achieved and whilst technically straightforward the procedure is known to be associated with a number of complications. Two of the most significant of which are infection (such that the bone flap needs to be removed and replaced) and resorption (such that the protective function is compromised). A less severe but cosmetically significant complication is injury to the frontal branch of the facial nerve during cranioplasty leading to weakness of eyebrow elevation. Between 2004 and 2009 in Western Australia 164 patients required either a unilateral (n = 78) or bilateral (n = 86) decompressive craniectomy for trauma. Of those patients that survived 138 had a cranioplasty procedure and in this cohort there was a high rate of infection and bone flap resorption. Infection A number of reports have now documented the higher than expected incidence of infection following decompressive craniectomy and subsequent cranioplasty. Within the Western Australian state-wide neurosurgical service the overall infection rate for cranial procedures has been consistently audited at 1 – 2%, however within the post-traumatic craniectomy/cranioplasty cohort of 138 patients, sixteen (11.6%) had to have the bone flap removed because of infection. It is not known why the infection rate is so high but a number of reasons have been proposed e.g. skin colonisation whilst in hospital, factors relating to long-term storage of the bone flap, immune compromise following trauma and reoperation. Some studies have reported lower rates of infection when using custom made titanium or ceramic cranioplasty plates however, meaningful interpretation of the published literature is difficult because other studies have demonstrated precisely the opposite. Bone flap resorption The incidence of bone flap resorption has been reported between 10% and 50% Within our post traumatic cohort, 10% of the bone flaps were so severely resorbed that they needed to be replaced. A further 12% showed significant radiological resorption and whilst these were not replaced they could be adjudged to have failed because there is concern that they do not provide adequate protection. In each case of absolute cranioplasty failure (overall approximately 20%) the patient requires readmission, a second operation to remove the bone flap, prolonged antibiotic therapy (in the case of infection), a custom-made titanium plate constructed and readmission for a third surgical procedure. The question addressed in this study is whether it would be more efficacious and cost effective to insert a custom-made titanium cranioplasty as a primary procedure.
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Trial website
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Trial related presentations / publications
Honeybul, S., Ho, K.M., Lind, C.R.P., and Gillett G. The retrospective application of a prediction model to patients who have had a decompressive craniectomy for trauma. J. Neurotrauma. 26: 2179, 2009. Honeybul, S., Ho, K.M., Lind, C.R.P., and Gillette G. Observed versus predicted outcome for decompressive craniectomy: A population based study. J. Neurotrauma. 27: 1225, 2010. Honeybul, S., and Ho, K.M. Long-term complications of decompressive craniectomy for head injury. J Neurotrauma. 28: 929, 2011. Honeybul, S. Sudden death following cranioplasty: a complication of decompressive craniectomy for head injury. Br. J. Neurosurg. 25: 343, 2011.
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Public notes
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Contacts
Principal investigator
Name
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Mr Stephen Honeybul
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Address
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Department of Neurosurgery
Sir Charles Gairdner
Hospital Avenue
Nedlands
Perth WA 6000
Royal Perth Hospital
Wellinton Street
Perth WA 6001
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Country
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Australia
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Phone
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+61 8 93463333
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Fax
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+61 8 93463824
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Email
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[email protected]
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Contact person for public queries
Name
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Stephen Honeybul
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Address
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Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
Hospital Avenue, Nedlands, Perth WA 6009
Royal Perth Hospital
Wellington Street, Perth WA 6001
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Country
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Australia
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Phone
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+61 8 9346 3333
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Fax
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Email
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[email protected]
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Contact person for scientific queries
Name
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Stephen Honeybul
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Address
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Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
Hospital Avenue, Nedlands, Perth WA 6009
Royal Perth Hospital
Wellington Street, Perth WA 6001
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Country
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Australia
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Phone
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+61 8 9346 3333
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Fax
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Email
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[email protected]
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No information has been provided regarding IPD availability
What supporting documents are/will be available?
No Supporting Document Provided
Results publications and other study-related documents
Documents added manually
No documents have been uploaded by study researchers.
Documents added automatically
Source
Title
Year of Publication
DOI
Embase
A randomized controlled trial comparing autologous cranioplasty with custom-made titanium cranioplasty.
2017
https://dx.doi.org/10.3171/2015.12.JNS152004
N.B. These documents automatically identified may not have been verified by the study sponsor.
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