BACKGROUND To provide a preliminary estimate of efficacy of constraint-induced aphasia therapy (CIAT) when compared to no-intervention in patients with chronic (>1 year) post-stroke aphasia in order to plan an appropriately powered randomized controlled trial (RCT). MATERIAL AND METHODS We conducted a pilot single-blinded RCT. 24 patients were randomized: 14 to CIAT and 10 to no-intervention....

Pediatric clinicians strive to base their management decisions on best available evidence. In the quantitative research paradigm, the highest level of evidence is derived from a conclusive randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT). Currently, there are few adequately powered RCTs to support pediatric acute respiratory care, but this landscape is changing. We are all obligated to ensure the re...

General practice research databases are increasingly used to study intended and unintended effects of treatments. However, confounding by indication remains a major problem. The randomized database study methodology has been proposed as a method to combine the strengths of observational database (generalizability) and the strength of the randomized clinical trial (RCT) design (randomization). W...

BACKGROUND Chronic neck pain (CNP) is a common painful medical condition with a significant socioeconomic impact. In spite of widespread usage, the effectiveness and safety of combined treatments between conventional and complementary alternative medical treatment modalities has not been fully established in a rigorous randomized clinical trial (RCT). This pilot study will provide the clinical ...

OBJECTIVES To assess how the inclusion of N-of-1 trial data into randomized controlled trial (RCT) meta-analyses impacts the magnitude and precision of yielded treatment effects, using amphetamines and methylphenidate for pediatric attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as a model. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING We combined the N-of-1 and RCT data generated from previously conducted systematic re...

I read with great interest the contribution “Effect of Gabapentin on Morphine Consumption and Pain after Surgical Debridement of Burn Wounds: A Double-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial Study” by Raziet al. (1). Carrying out a Randomized Controlled Trial without funding and especially in our region is an uphill task indeed. I must therefore congratulate the authors on this achievement. The trial h...

BACKGROUND Yoga is thought to be effective for health conditions. The article aims to assess the current clinical evidence of yoga for Essential hypertension (EH). STRATEGY MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in the Cochrane Library were searched until June, 2013. We included randomized clinical trials testing yoga against conventional therapy, yo...

BACKGROUND Intraoperative blood pressure (BP) is a concern in daily clinic anesthesia and contributes to the differences in clinical outcome. We conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to compare the effect of high vs. low mean arterial pressure (MAP) levels on clinical outcomes and complications in elderly patients under general anesthesia (GA). METHODS In this multicenter, randomized,...

BACKGROUND Symptomatic femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) is currently corrected by surgery. However, it is possible that nonsurgical treatment could resolve symptomatic FAI in some patients; thus, uncertainty about the necessity of surgical treatment exists. The current equipoise concerning FAI treatment presents an opportunity to conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of surgical and non...

OBJECTIVE Ciclosporin and MTX are used in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (DM and PM) when patients incompletely respond to glucocorticoids. Their effectiveness is unproved in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We evaluated their benefits in a placebo-controlled factorial RCT. METHODS A 56-week multicentre factorial-design double-blind placebo-controlled RCT compared steroids alone, MTX ...