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• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Screening, prevention other medical interventions >> Amanda - Interview 22 >> Amanda describes a double-blind trial of pro-biotic yoghurt to control irritable bowel syndrome. She felt the research nurse wanted a particular resul

Amanda has taken part in a trial of pro-biotic yoghurt for irritable bowel syndrome, and withdrew from a trial about early interventions to prevent diabetes. She is setting up a website for the public to design their own trials.

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Not taking part in a trial >> Gill - Interview 10 >> Gill would want to know a lot about the interventions being tested. She’d take part if there was genuine uncertainty about which treatment was best an

Gill discovered she had breast cancer in 2007. She would have liked to take part in a trial to help other women with breast cancer in future, but none was available.

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Screening, prevention other medical interventions >> Amanda - Interview 22 >> In a randomised trial we do not know which treatment is best, so we don’t know if it’s better to be in one group or another. Randomisation is the best

Amanda has taken part in a trial of pro-biotic yoghurt for irritable bowel syndrome, and withdrew from a trial about early interventions to prevent diabetes. She is setting up a website for the public to design their own trials.

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Trials involving surgery >> Alex - Interview 45 >> Alex understood doctors were unsure whether to recommend surgery for heel fracture or not. He had a slight preference for surgery but random allocatio

Alex fractured his heel in 2007. He agreed to take part in a trial comparing surgery with letting the bones heal naturally. He was randomised to the group having surgery, and his heel is slowly recovering.

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Not taking part in a trial >> Polly - Interview 09 >> Polly advises people to ask a lot of questions and get a second opinion if possible.

Polly was invited to be in a trial comparing tamoxifen against a placebo for breast cancer in the 1990s. She decided not to take part, because she felt there was already good evidence to support the use of tamoxifen.

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Cancer drugs and radiotherapy - randomised trials >> Jayne - Interview 03 >> Jayne is in favour of more trials in surgery and her own field (dentistry), but explains why it is more complex when the outcome of treatment is depen

Jayne had breast cancer aged 33. She wanted to join a clinical trial but her consultant was not interested, so she transferred to another hospital and took part in a trial comparing tamoxifen with tamoxifen plus goserelin (Zoladex).

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Organising trials >> Sir Iain Chalmers - Interview 30 >> Iain explains why he thinks randomised trials are the only ethical way to make progress when we don’t know which treatment is best, for example in pro

Iain is a keen advocate for well-designed randomised controlled trials to test treatments.

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Organising trials >> Sir Iain Chalmers - Interview 30 >> Treatment for prostate cancer can have unpleasant side effects. Because the best way of treating it is uncertain, a trial comparing different treatmen

Iain is a keen advocate for well-designed randomised controlled trials to test treatments.

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Organising trials >> Lester - Interview 06 >> It comes down to whether you can trust your doctor if they tell you they do not know which treatment is best. Knowing that a trial has ethics approval

Lester’s son Ellis died in 2001 of variant CJD. Lester later became involved as a lay chair of a trial looking at the effectiveness of a drug called quinacrine for people with variant CJD.

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Cancer drugs and radiotherapy - randomised trials >> Jayne - Interview 03 >> Unless you have strong feelings about which trial group you would want to be in, Jayne advises people to take part. She is confident in the system of

Jayne had breast cancer aged 33. She wanted to join a clinical trial but her consultant was not interested, so she transferred to another hospital and took part in a trial comparing tamoxifen with tamoxifen plus goserelin (Zoladex).

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Not taking part in a trial >> Polly - Interview 09 >> When people are sick they may not want choice. They may want their doctor to be honest about uncertainties, but also to advise them what’s best.

Polly was invited to be in a trial comparing tamoxifen against a placebo for breast cancer in the 1990s. She decided not to take part, because she felt there was already good evidence to support the use of tamoxifen.

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Cancer drugs and radiotherapy - randomised trials >> Jayne - Interview 03 >> Jayne did not mind being in the control group, even though the new treatment tested in the trial has now become the standard treatment, so she was not

Jayne had breast cancer aged 33. She wanted to join a clinical trial but her consultant was not interested, so she transferred to another hospital and took part in a trial comparing tamoxifen with tamoxifen plus goserelin (Zoladex).

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Not taking part in a trial >> Polly - Interview 09 >> Polly wonders if we could run trials where people could choose a treatment rather than being randomised without biasing the results.

Polly was invited to be in a trial comparing tamoxifen against a placebo for breast cancer in the 1990s. She decided not to take part, because she felt there was already good evidence to support the use of tamoxifen.

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Cancer drugs and radiotherapy - randomised trials >> Jayne - Interview 03 >> When Jayne learnt she had breast cancer in 1994, she knew it was unclear which treatment was best and asked to join a trial. The consultant was dismis

Jayne had breast cancer aged 33. She wanted to join a clinical trial but her consultant was not interested, so she transferred to another hospital and took part in a trial comparing tamoxifen with tamoxifen plus goserelin (Zoladex).

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Not taking part in a trial >> Polly - Interview 09 >> Professionals need to be very honest with patients, and be sure they really feel the trial is ethical before asking people to take part.

Polly was invited to be in a trial comparing tamoxifen against a placebo for breast cancer in the 1990s. She decided not to take part, because she felt there was already good evidence to support the use of tamoxifen.

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Cancer drugs and radiotherapy - randomised trials >> Jayne - Interview 03 >> Jayne explains the need for randomisation to have comparable groups of people in each arm of the trial.

Jayne had breast cancer aged 33. She wanted to join a clinical trial but her consultant was not interested, so she transferred to another hospital and took part in a trial comparing tamoxifen with tamoxifen plus goserelin (Zoladex).

• Medical research >> Clinical Trials >> Not taking part in a trial >> Polly - Interview 09 >> Polly decided not to take part in a placebo-controlled trial of tamoxifen because she felt there was already enough evidence it worked for breast canc

Polly was invited to be in a trial comparing tamoxifen against a placebo for breast cancer in the 1990s. She decided not to take part, because she felt there was already good evidence to support the use of tamoxifen.