[How much evidence is needed in the case of fatal diseases and when?].
Spectacular cases of healing of usually fatal diseases gain much attention and put pressure on physicians to apply treatments which have not been sufficiently approved in clinical studies. But often these cases are poorly documented. Also, the number of spontaneous remissions in cancer is greatly overestimated. Promising individual observations must be confirmed by case series in order to collect information which can help future patients. Efforts are necessary to organize well planned studies, especially on rare diseases.
Antes
Gerd
G
Deutsches Cochrane Zentrum, Institut für Medizinische Biometrie und Medizinische Informatik, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. antes@cochrane.de
D001293:Attitude to Death; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D014342:Truth Disclosure