BMJ  2005;331 (3 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7528.0-f

Editor's choice

In praise of uncertainty

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Imagine that you have just been told that your child has cancer. As the news sinks in, you are likely to want to know what the best treatment is and to be assured that your child will get it. You may not want to hear that we don't know what the best treatment is and that the only way to find out for sure is to enter your child into a trial.

If a parent's decision is hard, so too is the job of the trialist. With a child's future in the balance, how comfortable are you that encouraging a parent to enrol is in the best interests of that child? This week's BMJ carries an important paper that may make your job easier. Ambuj Kumar and colleagues (p 1295) looked back at a cohort of consecutive trials of treatments for cancer in children. Their aim was to . . . [Full text of this article]

Fiona Godlee, editor

(fgodlee@bmj.com)


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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Sox, H. C., Rennie, D. (2006). Research Misconduct, Retraction, and Cleansing the Medical Literature: Lessons from the Poehlman Case. ANN INTERN MED 144: 609-613 [Abstract] [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Uncertainty is the only certainty in patient care.
BM Hegde
bmj.com, 3 Dec 2005 [Full text]
Can we consider delinking industry from funding trials?
Rajesh Chauhan
bmj.com, 5 Dec 2005 [Full text]
Re: "In Praise of Uncertainty."
Hilary Butler
bmj.com, 6 Dec 2005 [Full text]
Re: Can we consider delinking industry from funding trials?
Dr. Rajesh Chauhan
bmj.com, 19 Nov 2007 [Full text]

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