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A young woman cries, "Please don't let me die!" Has she received the best treatment? What is the best treatment? How do we know? Life-threatening disease prompts these questions in everyone. Which Treatment Is Best? Spoof or Proof? explains the best scientific evidence for any treatment-the randomized controlled trial. This book begins with rotten humors as the source of all diseases. The reader is guided through serious attempts in history to treat disease, but which now seem amusing. The story ends with the randomized controlled trial and how to interpret it. The text will help students and clinicians understand this universal language of clinical research worldwide.
Key Features
- Describes the development of the randomized, controlled trial as the gold standard of proof
- Unravels the meaning of "randomized," "double-blind," and "p-values" in a simplified manner for students and clinicians
- Contains timeless information on how medical evidence can be understood
List of contents
1. Early Egyptian Medicine. 2. Hippocrates, Galen and the Humoral Theory. 3. Clay Ears and Asclepian Medicine. 4. Authority as Proof. 5. Andreas Vesalius and Keen Observation. 6. William Harvey Counts Heart Beats. 7. Smallpox, Edward Jenner, and Numbers. 8. Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek and the Microscope. 9. Louis Pasteur, Anthrax, and Rabies. 10. Wilhelm Roentgen, X-rays, and Bullets. 11. Ether, William Morton, and a Yankee Dodge. 12. Tuberculosis, Streptomycin, and Robert Koch. 13. Placebo or the I Feel Better Pill. 14. John Brinkley and Goat Gland Transplantation. 15. Laetrile, Cyanide, and Ernst Krebs. 16. Testimonials and Endorsements. 17. Controlled Trials and Hidden Harm. 18. Randomized Double Blind Controlled Trials. 19. Interpreting the Results of a Clinical Trial. 20. The Gold Standard for Evidence Based Medicine.
Summary
Which Medical Treatment is Best? Spoof or Proof? explains the best scientific evidence for any treatment - the randomized controlled trial. This book begins with rotten humors as the source for all diseases. The story ends with the randomized controlled trial and how to interpret it.
