The RECURRENT-GB trial is a UK multi-centre randomised controlled trial evaluating whether repeat brain surgery improves survival and quality of life in patients with recurrent glioblastoma. It is coordinated across NHS sites with academic leadership from the University of Oxford and OCTRU.

Clinical Context and Unmet Need

Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumour in adults, characterised by poor prognosis and near-universal recurrence. Clinical decision-making regarding repeat surgery remains highly variable due to limited high-quality evidence.

In addition, capturing longitudinal quality-of-life (QoL) data in this population is challenging due to disease severity, cognitive decline, and participant burden.

Study Design and RADAR-base Integration

• Multi-centre RCT (n ≈ 150)
• Adults (18+) with recurrent glioblastoma

RADAR-base Enabled Solution

RADAR-base supports hybrid decentralised trial delivery, enabling flexible, patient-preference-sensitive data capture and reducing dependency on in-clinic visits. The platform also enables continuous, multi-modal data collection, including both active (PROMs) and passive (wearable) data streams.

Impact

• Changes in service delivery: Enables decentralised, lower-burden follow-up in a high-need population
• Improved patient/service user outcomes (potential): Supports better QoL monitoring and earlier detection of deterioration
• Systems influence: Provides infrastructure for scalable digital endpoints in NHS trials
• Economic impact (anticipated): Improved data completeness may strengthen cost-effectiveness analyses
• Patient and public involvement: Proxy reporting and flexible participation improve accessibility
• Collaboration/coordination: Multi-site NHS and academic coordination

RECURRENT-GB demonstrates how RADAR-base can be embedded within a complex interventional NHS trial to address long-standing barriers in data collection for severely ill populations. By enabling frequent, low-burden outcome capture and integrating passive monitoring, the platform improves data quality and trial feasibility.

If adopted at scale, this model could standardise outcome collection in neuro-oncology trials and inform NICE guidance, ultimately improving care pathways and resource allocation.

References

https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN12749687
https://fundingawards.nihr.ac.uk/award/NIHR168105