ABSTRACT

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

chapter 1|5 pages

Early Egyptian Medicine

chapter 3|5 pages

Clay Ears and Asclepian Medicine

chapter 4|6 pages

Authority as Proof

chapter 5|8 pages

Andreas Vesalius and Keen Observation

chapter 6|6 pages

William Harvey Counts Heartbeats

chapter 7|14 pages

Smallpox, Edward Jenner, and Numbers

chapter 8|6 pages

Antony Van Leeuwenhoek and the Microscope

chapter 9|9 pages

Louis Pasteur, Anthrax, and Rabies

chapter 10|5 pages

Wilhelm Roentgen, X-rays, and Bullets

chapter 11|5 pages

Ether, William Morton, and a Yankee Dodge

chapter 12|13 pages

Tuberculosis, Streptomycin, and Robert Koch

chapter 13|8 pages

Placebo or the I Feel Better Pill

chapter 14|11 pages

John Brinkley and Goat Gland Transplantation

chapter 15|10 pages

Laetrile, Cyanide, and Ernst Krebs

chapter 16|10 pages

Testimonials and Endorsements

chapter 17|9 pages

Controlled Trials and Hidden Harm

chapter 18|11 pages

Randomized Double-Blind Controlled Trials