TY - JOUR
T1 - Clinical trial results applied to management of the individual cancer patient
AU - Jatoi, Ismail
AU - Proschan, Michael A.
PY - 2006/7
Y1 - 2006/7
N2 - The application of clinical trial results to the management of the individual cancer patient is not always straightforward. The results of a clinical trial indicate the "average" effect of an intervention, often expressed in terms of an absolute risk reduction, which is an estimate of the likelihood of benefit for a particular patient. However, within any clinical trial, there might be differences between groups of patients in underlying pathology, genetics, or biology, and some patients might benefit more from a new treatment than others. Thus, within a clinical trial, it might also be useful to group together patients with similar characteristics, and test for subgroup interaction. The test for interaction will indicate whether the magnitude of benefit differs from one prognostic subgroup to the next (a quantitative interaction). Much less common are qualitative interactions, in which a new treatment is beneficial in one subgroup but harmful in another. If the test for subgroup interaction is significant, then the effects of treatment may indeed differ between subgroups of patients, but this should be confirmed in other trials before a treatment is implemented in clinical practice.
AB - The application of clinical trial results to the management of the individual cancer patient is not always straightforward. The results of a clinical trial indicate the "average" effect of an intervention, often expressed in terms of an absolute risk reduction, which is an estimate of the likelihood of benefit for a particular patient. However, within any clinical trial, there might be differences between groups of patients in underlying pathology, genetics, or biology, and some patients might benefit more from a new treatment than others. Thus, within a clinical trial, it might also be useful to group together patients with similar characteristics, and test for subgroup interaction. The test for interaction will indicate whether the magnitude of benefit differs from one prognostic subgroup to the next (a quantitative interaction). Much less common are qualitative interactions, in which a new treatment is beneficial in one subgroup but harmful in another. If the test for subgroup interaction is significant, then the effects of treatment may indeed differ between subgroups of patients, but this should be confirmed in other trials before a treatment is implemented in clinical practice.
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U2 - 10.1007/s00268-006-0073-x
DO - 10.1007/s00268-006-0073-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 16794903
AN - SCOPUS:33746057826
SN - 0364-2313
VL - 30
SP - 1184
EP - 1189
JO - World journal of surgery
JF - World journal of surgery
IS - 7
ER -