2016: More light than shadow? Beneficial and hindering factors for successful clinical studies

Is it better to have surgery or to wait? Can the dose of a drug be reduced? Does sharper imaging of tumours result in better health care? Taking a sober look at medical procedures and interventions will lead surprisingly fast to the insight that many highly relevant questions have not been answered.

At the same time, we have to recognize that studies that might be able to answer these questions fail to be conducted: be it that difficulties come up in the conceptual phase, be it that they fail at a later time point - because participation of physicians or clinics is poor or recruitment does not work out. Most studies that fail remain in the dark; only few are publicly discussed. However, the fact that important studies are not conducted is as interesting as the reasons that contribute to their failure or to their success. Because only on the basis of this information can the general framework for studies be changed in such a way that relevant questions can be answered.

At the Symposium, we are going to present both successful and failed study projects and take a look at their respective general framework.