title: [Critical remarks regarding guidelines based on scientific research].
abstract: National and international guidelines for diagnosis and treatment are increasingly applied as standards for medical interventions. Evidence-based consensus guidelines are not consistently based on the outcome of scientific studies. Recent research yielding inherent low-grade evidence is liable to be overruled by personal impressions, sentiments and common sense. Guidelines are based on the average patient, with a certain range. With increasing specialisation, one increasingly sees that doctors justifiably digress from a guideline when a patient differs substantially from the average.
authors.affiliation: Het Nederlands Kanker Instituut/Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Ziekenhuis, afd. Heelkunde, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX Amsterdam. o.nieweg@nki.nl
authors.forename: O E
authors.initials: OE
authors.lastname: Nieweg
mesh_terms: D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D012106:Research / Q000592:standards*