To the Editor: In our article on lung transplantation and survivalin children with cystic fibrosis (Nov. 22 issue),1 the recordingof censoring dates, but not deaths, for 27 of the 514 patientsin the final data set that we analyzed was in error. The datawere inadvertently corrupted during sensitivity analyses conductedto explore the effects of different methods for censoring survival(see the Methods section of our article and the SupplementaryAppendix of the article, available with the full text of thisletter at www.nejm.org). The error was discovered when we repeatedthe entire analysis in response to published criticisms of ourstatistical methods2,3 and the observation that the post-transplantationsurvival that we reported was at odds with the survival in otherreports based on data obtained from similar patients.4 A cross-checkof the data set used in our article against the original rawdata obtained from the Organ Procurement and TransplantationNetwork showed that 27 censoring dates had been corrupted. Thiserror led to a misreporting of median survival after transplantation.
We repeated the survival analysis using corrected censoringdates. The specific corrections are available with a revised versionof our article at www.nejm.org, along with the full text of the original article.Neither the underlying errors in the data nor any of the correctionswe report alter our original conclusion: that prolongation oflife by means of lung transplantation should not be expectedin children with cystic fibrosis.
Theodore G. Liou, M.D. Frederick R. Adler, Ph.D. Barbara C. Cahill, M.D. University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT 84132 ted.liou{at}utah.edu
David R. Cox, Ph.D. Nuffield College Oxford OX1 1NF, United Kingdom
References
Liou TG, Adler FR, Cox DR, Cahill BC. Lung transplantation and survival in children with cystic fibrosis. N Engl J Med 2007;357:2143-2152. [Free Full Text]
Corris PA, Christie JD. Update in transplantation 2007. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2008;177:1062-1067. [Free Full Text]
Lung transplantation and survival in children with cystic fibrosis. N Engl J Med 2008;358:1733-1735.
Aurora P, Spencer H, Moreno-Galdo A. Lung transplantation in children with cystic fibrosis: a view from Europe. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2008;177:935-936. [Free Full Text]
Mello, M. M., Studdert, D. M., Brennan, T. A.
(2009). Shifting Terrain in the Regulation of Off-Label Promotion of Pharmaceuticals. NEJM
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Yusen, R. D.
(2009). Technology and Outcomes Assessment in Lung Transplantation. Proc Am Thorac Soc
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