A well-conducted randomized trial that establishes no benefit of therapy is an important medical advance

Abstract

Background As physicians, we continually strive to understand disease processes and predict how they will affect our patients. However, our greatest skill lies in our ability to intervene and change the natural history of a disease, i.e. change a poor outcome which otherwise would have occurred. Many types of interventions are used in the care of renal patients, from pills, to procedures and dialysis, to alternative ways to deliver health care. All would agree that interventions need to be evaluated to determine if they are beneficial, without harm, and cost-effective in a system of finite resources.