Abstract
In Germany, more than 400,000 arthroscopic procedures are performed each year. The DART registry is designed to study the outcome of arthroscopic procedures of the shoulder, hip, knee and ankle joint under everyday clinical circumstances using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). DART aims at identifying patient-specific factors correlated with therapy-associated complications and treatment failure and will help study the influence of concurrent joint diseases and procedures. To achieve these tasks, a Web-based remote data entry system will be applied and adapted to the needs of DART. DART will consist of a physician’s and a patient’s form to enter data on the specific disease, surgical procedure, joint-specific outcome, disability and quality of life measured by validated scores up to 5 years following surgery. The pool of data will be subjected to further clinical investigations and subgroup analysis. Individual results will be made accessible to the surgeon and the patient. Moreover, public reports will be generated to provide healthcare authorities and insurance companies with information on the effectiveness of arthroscopic surgery. The aim of this article is to present the methodology of the registry.
Level of evidence V.
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All authors are equally involved in scientific and basic technical development of DART. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
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Funding
The DART project receives funding from: Society for Arthroscopy and Joint Surgery (AGA), German Society for Arthroscopy (BVASK), Society for Orthopaedic Traumatic Sports Medicine (GOTS), German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma (DGOU), Arthrex, Smith & Nephew.
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Depending on individual state law, investigators consult the responsible ethics committee before commencement of the study at their site. If requested, the investigators are supported by the CTU in preparation of the essential documents for the submission. After consulting the ethics committee and receiving a personal user account, investigators are allowed to take part in the registry.
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Mueller-Rath, R., Miltner, O., Hochrein, A. et al. The German Arthroscopy Registry (DART). Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 25, 3657–3660 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-017-4708-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-017-4708-2