RCTs
6 pieces tagged RCTs.
The Dismal Disease: Temozolomide and the Interaction of Evidence
Evidence interacts. To understand the evidence base for an intervention we must look not only at individual studies, but the relationships between them.
Echoes of Evidence
Do you have an idea of what makes good medical evidence in your mind? Do you have ideas about the kind of evidence you’d pay attention to, and the kind of evidence you can safely disregard? Or ideas about the evidence that would strongly sway your beliefs and actions, and the...
The Authority of Evidence-Based Medicine
In the early part of the 20th century, the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein sought to demonstrate that metaphysical claims are meaningless. Statements which couldn’t be proven true in some way—through logic or evidence—weren’t even false, they had no meaning at all. But he ran...
The Parachute Problem: Extracorporeal Life Support and the Demand for Trials
The United States Parachute Association recorded 120 deaths while skydiving in America in 2008-2015. Most were due to human error, while others resulted from collisions with other parachutes or aircraft. Only 5 were due to equipment failure. With around 3 million parachute...
UBL and Variation
I've argued that information about variation in treatment effects is vital for doctors, patients and regulators alike. This information does not come from RCTs. Nonetheless, we can acquire high-quality, compelling evidence of variation. The case studies I've presented in the...
RCTs - a note on terminology
For the most part, when I'm talking about an RCT, it's understood as a Randomised Clinical Trial, though I use them interchangeably because I can get away with it - but not everyone can.