The Pros and Cons of the Promise of Research

The Oregonian’s Joe Rojas posted an interesting blog item today about research efforts that don’t pan out.

Here’s a link to the full post.

Here’s an excerpt

Placing wire mesh stents in brain arteries for stroke protection failed big time in the first randomized clinical trial, reported widely this week. Safety monitors halted the Wingspan stent trial in April after seeing more strokes and deaths among people randomly assigned to receive stents.

You would never have imagined this possible if you’d listened to the hype coming from many medical centers and stroke specialists for years before the trial was done.

The post is referring to a study that OHSU took part in that was halted for safety reasons

The article makes some great points about allowing research to make conclusions before a therapy is deemed the “next big thing.”

It’s something that we in the OHSU press department think about a lot.

However I do think there needs to be a balance. It’s OK to tell folks about a new treatment being tested…we just shouldn’t prejudge its effectiveness.

I’d say OHSU’s 2005 press release about this therapy didn’t do that…but the Oregonian makes a good point about delaying judgement until all the facts come in.