Increasing the sample size during clinical trials with t-distributed test statistics without inflating the type I error rate

In clinical trials with t-distributed test statistics the required sample size depends on the unknown variance. Taking estimates from previous studies often leads to a misspecification of the true value of the variance. Hence, re-estimation of the variance based on the collected data and re-calculation of the required sample size is attractive. We present a flexible method for extensions of fixed sample or group-sequential trials with t-distributed test statistics. The method can be applied at any time during the course of the trial and does not require the necessity to pre-specify a sample size re-calculation rule. All available information can be used to determine the new sample size. The advantage of our method when compared with other adaptive methods is maintenance of the efficient t-test design when no extensions are actually made. We show that the type I error rate is preserved. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.