Fundamentals of Clinical Trials (4th ed.)

The clinical trial is “the most definitive tool for evaluation of the applicability of clinical research.” It represents “a key research activity with the potential to improve the quality of health care and control costs through careful comparison of alternative treatments” [1]. It has been called on many occasions, “the gold st- dard” against which all other clinical research is measured. Although many clinical trials are of high quality, a careful reader of the medical literature will notice t