Searching for Trial Records

You can retrieve existing trial records once you have registered for an account. For instructions, refer to Creating a CTRP Account.

After you have selected your search criteria, you can further limit or expand your search for trials as follows:

• Use the Search All Trials feature to search for all trials registered with the CTRP from all organizations/accounts, whether or not you are the submitter or owner.
• Use the Search My Trials feature to search for trials that you own, whether or not your organization is listed as the lead organization or participating site.
• Use the Search Saved Drafts feature to search for trials that you have saved as drafts but have not submitted.

The search feature you choose determines which categories of trials will be returned, and the actions you can perform with those results, as shown in the table below. For rules that determine which trial details are displayed, refer to Types of Trials Included in Trial Search Results.

How to Search for Existing Trials

1. Click the Search Clinical Trials tab. Or, on the toolbar, click Search > Clinical Trials.
   The Search Clinical Trials page appears.
   

2. Select or enter the appropriate information in the drop-down lists and text fields. (You do not have to select or enter any search criteria if you use the Search My Trials feature. When searching All Trials, you must select or enter at least one search criterion.) The following table describes the fields.

   Tip

   If you are searching for a saved draft, you can search by the following criteria only:

   • Title
   • Phase
   • Purpose
   • Identifier Type (NCT Exact Match, Lead Organization, or Other Identifier only)
   • Organization Type (Lead Organization only)
   • Organization
   • Principal Investigator

   Because the system adds wildcards for you, do not enter wildcard symbols in the search fields.

   Trial Search Criteria

   Field	Instructions/Description
   Title	To narrow the search by this trial attribute, specify one or more words from the official name of the protocol provided by the study principal investigator or sponsor (as it appears in the protocol document). Avoid specifying the entire title in the search field Use keywords rather than phrases or the entire title. Doing so minimizes the potential for excluding from the search results any titles with misspellings or slightly different phrasing.
   Phase	To narrow the search by this trial attribute, specify the phase of investigation, as defined by the US FDA for trials involving investigational new drugs. For valid values, refer to Trial Phase Value Definitions.
   Pilot Trial?	To narrow the search by this trial attribute, specify whether the trial is a pilot trial. To find trials identified as pilot trials, select Yes. To find trials identified as not pilot trials, select No. To find trial records on which no pilot value has been specified, select None.
   Purpose	To narrow the search by this trial attribute, specify the main reason for conducting the trial. For valid values, refer to Primary Purpose Value Definitions.
   Identifier Type	To narrow the search by both identifier and the type of trial identifier, specify both. Valid identifier types are as follows: NCI - The unique identifier assigned to the trial by the NIH National Cancer Institute. NCT (Exact Match) - The unique identifier assigned to the trial by the ClinicalTrials.gov Protocol Registration System (PRS). Provide the exact number, including the NCT prefix. Example: NCT00012345 Lead Organization - The unique identifier assigned to the trial by the lead organization. Other identifier - Additional trial identifier such as unique identifier from other registries, NIH grant numbers, or protocol numbers assigned by the Review Board. The Identifier Type field is optional, even when specifying an identifier.
   Identifier	To narrow the search by this trial attribute, specify the numeric or alphanumeric identifier assigned to the trial. For Inter-Group trials, specify the Lead Group's trial number.
   Organization Type	To narrow the search by both organization and organization type, specify both. Valid organization types are as follows: Lead Organization - Returns all trials on which the selected organization is the Lead Organization Participating Site - Returns all trials on which the selected organization is a Participating Site Both - Returns all trials on which the selected organization is either the Lead Organization or Participating Site You can change the Organization Type without affecting any other search criteria you may have selected previously.
   Organization	To narrow the search by this trial attribute, specify the initial letter(s) of the organization. The system suggests organizations as you type. Select the organization from the list of suggestions. To search for trials by organization without having to specify what role the organization plays in the trial, select Both from the Organization Type list, and then select the name of the organization of interest.
   Principal Investigator	To narrow the search by this trial attribute, specify the Look Up Person. Enter the initial letter(s) of the principal investigator's last name. The system suggests names as you type. Select the investigator name from the list of suggestions.
   Search by Trial Category	To narrow the search by this trial attribute, specify the category of the trial, as determined by the submission of a full protocol (Complete) or a ClinicalTrials.gov import (Abbreviated). For information about these categories, refer to CTRP Trial Categories, Study Sources. Otherwise, select Both.

3. Click Search.

   The Search menu options are displayed.
   

   

4. Do one of the following:
   
   • To search all registered trials in the system, click All Trials.
     -or-

   • To search only the trials that you submitted or own, click My Trials. This feature enables access to all the trials that you have submitted, including those that are currently on hold. (The Clinical Trials Reporting Office staff places trials on hold when they are unable to process a trial without further information, usually from the submitter.)

     -or-

   • To search only the trials that you have saved for later completion, click Saved Drafts.
     -or-

   • To clear all search criteria and begin a new search, click Reset.

     Allow sufficient time for the system to conduct your search before you run your search again

     The search is complete only when the system displays search results or alerts you that it could not find a trial to match your search criteria.

     
     The trials that meet your search criteria are listed on the Search Results page. For more information on navigating and working with search results, see Working with Tables and Search Results.

     

     
     
     Trials may have more than one title. For example, the CTRO staffs may add an alternate title if they find a misspelling in the registered title. Any trial identified by more than one title is identified in the search results table by an asterisk ( * ) in the Title column.

5. To see the alternate titles associated with a trial, click the asterisk (link).
   The list of alternate titles is displayed in the Trial Alternate Titles window.
   

   You can change Accrual Disease terminologies for individual trials

   If you searched for "My Trials", the search results table displays an additional column, Accrual Disease Terminology. You can select a new terminology from the drop-down list only if the trial has not accrued patients.

   Additionally, you can change accrual disease terminology at any time for trials currently recording accruals at the summary level only.

   

6. To view a trial, click its NCI Trial Identifier link. The Trial Details page appears. For information about this page, refer to Viewing Trial Details. 

For more information, refer to the following pages: