See related article, p 2922 To improve survival and ameliorate disability after ischemic stroke, many treatment modalities have been used in the acute stage of stroke. Among them, intravenous tPA (tissue-type plasminogen activator) therapy and immediate endovascular thrombectomy have improved clinical outcomes, especially in patients with severe acute ischemic stroke. Several observational stud...

OBJECTIVE To date only a few randomized controlled studies have compared grafting strategies in patients with multi-vessel coronary disease. This study represents a pilot RCT designed to test the feasibility of a trial comparing conventional CABG performed with a LIMA-LAD plus saphenous vein grafts (LIMA+SVG) and CABG performed with total arterial grafting (TAG). METHODS Consenting patients u...

CLINICAL BOTTOM LINE Water intake is a cost effective, non-invasive and low-risk intervention to reduce or prevent headache pain. RATIONALE Chronic mild dehydration may trigger headache. Increased water intake could help. A small trial shows modest benefit; however, a larger methodologically sound randomized controlled trial is needed to confirm efficacy. CRITICALLY APPRAISED PAPER Spigt, M...

OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of acupressure on Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) in a randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT) and to evaluate the difficulties of conducting a RP RCT. METHODS A pilot single center RCT of acupressure vs. targeted patient education was conducted for the treatment of RP. Patients with either primary (N = 15) or secondary (N = 8) RP were randomized in an 8-week stud...

Background Exercise therapy is effective in reducing symptoms and disability associated with hand osteoarthritis (HOA) but often has low adherence. An intervention consisting a meaningful occupation, such as knitting, may improve adherence to treatment. This pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) studied the clinical effectiveness of knitting program older females suffering from HOA evaluate a...

At present, no consensus exists among clinical and academic experts regarding an appropriate placebo for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT). Therefore, we investigated whether it was possible to conduct a chiropractic manual-therapy RCT with placebo. Seventy migraineurs were randomized to a single-blinded placebo-controlled clinical trial that consisted of ...

Abstract Introduction Clinical trial applicability to routine clinical practice is a fundamental consideration. Little known about eligibility and enrolment in ischaemic heart failure (iHF) trials. Aim To compare characteristics medical therapy between subjects eligible-and-enrolled vs eligible-but-not-enrolled iHF interventional randomized controlled trials (RCT). Material methods Using our de...

Cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT), in which groups or clusters of individuals rather than individuals themselves are randomized, are increasingly common. Indeed, for the evaluation of certain types of intervention (such as those used in health promotion and educational interventions) a cluster randomized trial is virtually the only valid approach. However, cluster trials are generally m...

Data were from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing two modes of BFST-D delivery: in clinic versus internet videoconferencing. There were no significant differences between groups in the RCT, so groups were collapsed into a within-group prepost design for secondary analyses. A multiple regression analysis was performed to test for mediation of treatment outcomes by changes in family pr...