EmboCoh is a structured international web-based channel, designed so that physicians can enter their data on embolization procedures. It will enable collaborative registry-style data collection and analysis, particularly of uncommon embolization procedures, which would not be meaningfully possible from single-centre data due to the paucity of cases.
The first aim of the EmboCoh registry is to create the infrastructure to collate data on cohort studies involving embolization, and its first project is to collate international data on the embolization of visceral aneurysms, Marc Sapoval, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou (APHP) in Paris, France, told delegates at the Global Embolization Symposium and Technologies (GEST US 2014, 1–4 May, San Francisco, USA).
EmboCoh is the brainchild of interventional radiologists Sapoval and Jafar Golzarian, Minneapolis, USA. Several international leaders in embolization such as Ziv Haskal, Charlottesville, USA, John Kaufman, Portland, USA, Michael Darcy, Washington, USA, Kiego Osuga, Osaka, Japan, and Vincent Vidal, Marseille, France, are involved and the project is administered by Gert Andersen. The physicians believe that gathering data on uncommon embolization procedures and its analysis will eventually lead to a better standard of care for these procedures.
EmboCoh will be opening soon under a limited release in Europe, the USA and Japan. It is in the proof of concept stage and more centres will be able to become involved, Sapoval stated.
He explained the rationale for launching EmboCoh with the aim of capturing data on the embolization of visceral aneurysms saying: “There is currently little evidence on the best method to achieve long-term protection from rupture for visceral aneurysms.”
Sapoval also stated that other topics for which data could be collected in EmboCoh are embolization of varicoceles, pelvic congestion syndrome, conventional transarterial chemoembolization and transarterial chemoembolization with drug-eluting beads. An international prostatic artery embolization registry could also be developed, Sapoval said. He also noted that the registry could help centres to start a new intervention. “For instance, scientific and ethical support could be provided for those who want to start prostatic artery embolization in a complex local environment. The registry could also serve as a channel to identify centres that are willing to enter into new multicentre collaborative projects,” he explained.
Sapoval told delegates that they had be aware of the relevant legal obligations that applied to data entry such as the Institutional Review Board approval in the USA and non-interventional study in Europe. “Data entry are anonymous and follow-up information is mandatory,” he said.
