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Interesting Web links: |
New treatments - pharmaceutical agents, devices, surgical procedures - are
being developed every day. How do we know if there is any benefit to
patients of these new treatments? Frequently, new treatments are introduced
into practice with very little scientific evidence that they are better than
current practice. Patients' lives may be risked and many dollars spent on
therapies that may be no better, or may even be worse, than current available
therapies.
My interest in clinical trials has arisen over just such an issue, in ocular oncology, where clinicians - in order to avoid removal of cancerous eyes - implement new, expensive radiotherapy applications designed to spare vision, assuming that there is no penalty in terms of reduced life-span. They may be correct, but, if not, patients may not be willing to trade extra months or years of life for the possibility of retention of some visual function. Randomized, controlled clinical trials provide the best means for evaluating the benefits and risks of a new treatment in comparison with current therapy. |
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