Monday, February 02, 2015

Names of Clinical Trials

I'm not sure who started it, but at some point, some investigator decided to create cute acronyms for clinical trial names. Large clinical trials often have bulky, unwieldy titles like "Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial of Endovascular Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke in the Netherlands." We started giving these trials acronyms, and this, fortunately, shortened to "MR CLEAN." Some liberties are always taken to get that memorable acronym. "Bisphosphonate and Anastrozole Trial - Bone Maintenance Algorithm Assessment" shortens to "BATMAN." There are trials with the word "SMART," "AWESOME," "HOPE," and "CURE." Some are named after Greek Gods. Others like "VICTORY" and "TORPEDO" are just amusing. However, trial names with cute acronyms aren't just for giggles; someone looked at this and realized a memorable name means a trial is cited more often and probably remembered by our medical students a little longer.

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