Patterns for conflict identification in clinical trial eligibility criteria

Abstract

Patients with serious diseases, such as cancer, often must consider and choose between multiple clinical trials. Patients are often concerned that participation in one clinical trial may preclude their participation in another trial. We are developing a system to help patients in this decision making process, focusing on pediatric cancer where clinical trial participation is very high. In this paper, we present a detailed description of the approach used to process and analyze the eligibility constraints, using a pattern-based approach from the literature. We show how the semantic categorizations produced by these patterns can be used to determine which eligibility constraints can produce conflicts, as well as to guide an analysis algorithm. This work contributes to research on using eligibility criteria and other clinical trial information to better support patient decision making and to improve accrual of patients into clinical trials.