Decentralized Clinical Trials at Home: Commentary on Caregivers' Burden

In AML and CLL, 91% of VAMS venetoclax results fell within 20% of plasma after individualised haematocrit correction; in home sampling, 18 of 21 patients self-sampled independently and 76% of returned samples were analysable, which shows home microsampling is workable, though the authors ask for multicentre validation.

Clinical Validation of Venetoclax Volumetric Microsampling in Leukemia, with Whole-Blood-to-Plasma Conversion and Self-Microsampling Feasibility — Levens et al., Clinical Pharmacokinetics (paywalled) · source ↗

• vams
• venous-agreement
• blood
• dbs
• tdm
• self-collection
• haematocrit
• dried
• oncology
• capillary
• validation

This review suggests that decentralised clinical trials in oncology can improve patient participation and equity but face significant regulatory, logistical and digital hurdles. It concludes that these trials offer a flexible model dependent on specific clinical contexts rather than a universal replacement for conventional methods.

From site-centered to patient-centered: Promises and challenges of decentralized clinical trials in oncology — Gentile et al., Critical reviews in oncology/hematology (paywalled) · source ↗

• oncology
• dct

The study found that although participants preferred patient-centric microsampling devices for home use, the agreement with venous plasma for measuring CRP and cytokines was inconsistent, indicating that further validation is required before these methods replace standard venipuncture.

Limited agreement of cytokines and CRP through patient-centric microsampling compared to venipuncture in healthy adults — Tuttle et al., Bioanalysis (paywalled) · source ↗

• dct
• venous-agreement
• acceptability
• blood
• dbs
• self-collection
• dried
• biomarkers

The study demonstrated the feasibility of a fully decentralised design by successfully recruiting 37 participants and completing follow-up for self-collected stool samples without requiring on-site visits.

Perioperative Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Cesarean Section and the Maternal Gut Microbiome: Protocol for a Remote Observational Cohort Study — Feles & Mattner, JMIR research protocols · source ↗

• stool
• self-collection
• dct
• microbiome

This study validated a low-cost 3D-printed smartphone attachment and paper sensor for measuring glucose, uric acid and cholesterol in saliva, demonstrating high correlation with standard ELISA results in a small clinical cohort. The authors suggest this platform offers a scalable solution for decentralised diabetes management by balancing sensitivity with affordability.

Nanostructured zinc-coordination supraparticles on cellulose fibers: A 3D-Printed μ-FAD integrated smartphone platform for multiplexed salivary metabolic monitoring — Yang et al., Biosensors & bioelectronics (paywalled) · source ↗

• dct
• economics
• metabolome
• self-collection
• liquid
• validation
• saliva