About NETT

NIH Project Number: 5U01NS056975-10

The Neurological Emergencies Treatment Trials (NETT) Network is a large network dedicated toward emergency issues.  The NETT is made up of 22 “Hub” institutions nationwide, each having at least three “Spoke” hospitals.  The NETT Network is interdisciplinary, including, but not limited to, emergency physicians, neurologists and neurosurgeons.  The NETT is unique from other clinical trials in that it is long-term, not ending when one study is complete, but moving on to the next and having several studies running at a time.  This nationwide network will be able to enroll enough patients to do statistically significant studies much more efficiently and quickly.

Mission

The mission of the Neurological Emergencies Treatment Trials (NETT) Network is to improve outcomes of patients with acute neurologic problems through innovative research focused on the emergent phase of patient care. 

Vision

NETT will engage clinicians and providers at the front lines of emergency care to conduct large, simple multicenter clinical trials to answer research questions of clinical importance.   The NETT structure will be utilized to achieve economies of scale enabling cost effective, high quality research.

Background

Every 28 seconds, a patient in the US becomes a victim to one of the eight most common devastating neurological emergencies. These include stroke (ischemic, intracranial hemorrhage, or subarachnoid hemorrhage), traumatic brain injury, status epilepticus, anoxic encephalopathy, spinal cord injury, or bacterial meningitis. Every 2 minutes, a patient in the US dies from one of these conditions, and these conditions alone are responsible for more than $115 billion per year in US health care spending (7% of total spending). Other less common neurological emergencies including exacerbations of chronic degenerative or demyelinating disorders, headache syndromes and neuropathies cause additional morbidity and cost.