NIAMS MCRC in Musculoskeletal Diseases

拟议中的达特茅斯肌肉骨骼多学科临床研究中心（MCRC） 疾病寻求通过不同学科的重点合作，促进严格的临床研究，总体目标是改善肌肉骨骼疾病患者的健康。达特茅斯长期以来一直有一个积极的临床研究计划，主要与两个建立良好的跨部门中心的成果研究和癌症，其特点是国际公认的计划，在医疗保健流行病学和癌症化学预防。随着达特茅斯研究基地的发展，出现了新的机会，将我们的专业知识扩展到NIAMS相关疾病领域，特别强调 关于肌肉骨骼疾病为我们现有的临床研究项目开发的生物统计学和结局评价基础设施，以及NIAMS赞助的针对腰痛手术患者结局的主要多中心临床试验的启动，为在达特茅斯创建新的MCRC提供了独特的机会。拟议的达特茅斯MCRC将为实现以下研究目标提供方法和行政支持：项目1：通过评估腰椎磁共振成像（MRI）在慢性腰痛患者中的作用，评估腰椎MRI的预后价值，以改善治疗建议和健康结局。 腰椎作为预后指标;项目2：更好地了解地理、种族和社会经济因素在确定肌肉骨骼疾病治疗和结局中的作用;项目3：研究正在接受椎间盘突出治疗的工作患者的残疾和健康相关生活质量结局;项目4（一个发展项目）：描述骨科医生对在择期肌肉骨骼手术中使用患者决策辅助工具的原则和实践的意见。我们还寻求增加临床医生和研究人员的培训教育机会，从而促进新的临床研究计划，最终改善肌肉骨骼疾病患者的健康。

The proposed Dartmouth Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Center (MCRC) in Musculoskeletal Diseases seeks to promote rigorous clinical research through a focused collaboration of diverse disciplines with an overall objective of improving the health of patients suffering from musculoskeletal diseases. Dartmouth has long had an active clinical research program, primarily associated with two well-established interdepartmental centers in outcomes research and cancer which feature internationally recognized programs in medical care epidemiology and cancer chemoprevention. As Dartmouth's research base has grown, new opportunities have arisen to extend our expertise to NIAMS-related disease areas with a particular emphasis on musculoskeletal diseases. The infrastructure in biostatistics and outcomes evaluation developed for our existing clinical research programs, combined with the initiation of a major NIAMS-sponsored multi-center clinical trial for patient outcomes in surgery for low back pain, provides a unique opportunity to create a new MCRC at Dartmouth. The proposed Dartmouth MCRC will provide methodological and administrative support for achieving the research objectives summarized as follows: Project 1: To assess the prognostic value of lumbar spine MRI for the purpose of improving treatment recommendations and health outcomes of patients with chronic low back pain by assessing the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the lumbar spine as an indicator of prognosis; Project 2: To better understand the roles of geography, race, and socioeconomic factors in determining musculoskeletal disease treatment and outcomes; Project 3: To study disability and health-related quality of life outcomes among working patients being treated for a disc herniation; Project 4 (a developmental project): To characterize orthopaedic surgeons' opinions on the principles and practice of using patient decision aids for elective musculoskeletal surgery. We also seek to enhance educational opportunities for clinicians and researchers in training, thereby fostering new clinical research initiatives that will ultimately improve the health of patients with musculoskeletal disease.