- Email: [email protected]
Definite trial is not definitive after all
International Journal of Cardiology 100 (2005) 331 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijcard
Letter to the Editor
Definite trial is not definitive after all Tsung O. Cheng George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC, 20037 United States Received 23 July 2004; accepted 27 July 2004 Available online 17 February 2005
Keywords: DEFINITE trial; Defibrillators; Non-ischemic cardiomyopathy; Acronyms
The result of the DEFINITE trial was published recently [1]. It was another negative trial with a positive-sounding acronym [2]. The DEFINITE (DEFibrillators In NonIschemic cardiomyopathy Treatment Evaluation) trial failed to demonstrate a significant reduction in the risk of death from any cause. When the investigators and the device manufacturer launched the trial and invented the acronym DEFINITE, they obviously were expecting a positive result. The negative result must be a big disappointment for them. As was commented in the accompanying editorial [3], bthe DEFINITE study is not the definitive word on this topicQ. There are many other positive-sounding acronyms of trials that turned out to yield negative results, such as ALIVE, ATLAS, CARDINAL, HALT-MI, IMPROVED, LIMIT AMI, MIRACLE, OPTIMIST, PROMISE, SAVED and SWORD (for definitions of these acronyms, please consult references [2] and [4]). I wish that inventors of trial
0167-5273/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2004.07.019
acronyms stopped inventing coercive acronyms [5] so that they would not have to eat crow later on.
References [1] Kadish A, Dyer A, Daubert JP, Quigg R, Mark Estes NA, Anderson KP, et al. For the Defibrillators in Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy Treatment Evaluation (DEFINITE) Investigators: prophylactic defibrillator implantation in patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. N Engl J Med 2004;350:2151 – 8. [2] Cheng TO. ATLAS, another negative trial with a positive-sounding acronym. Circulation 2003;108:e98. [3] Rogers JG, Cain ME. Electromechanical associations. N Engl J Med 2004;350:2193 – 5. [4] Cheng TO, Julian D. Acronyms of cardiological trials-2002. Int J Cardiol 2003;91:261 – 351 [Erratum, Int J Cardiol 2004;94:133]. [5] Orlowski JP, Christensen JA. The potentially coercive nature of some clinical research trial acronyms. Chest 2002;121:2023 – 8.
Letter to the Editor
Definite trial is not definitive after all Tsung O. Cheng George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC, 20037 United States Received 23 July 2004; accepted 27 July 2004 Available online 17 February 2005
Keywords: DEFINITE trial; Defibrillators; Non-ischemic cardiomyopathy; Acronyms
The result of the DEFINITE trial was published recently [1]. It was another negative trial with a positive-sounding acronym [2]. The DEFINITE (DEFibrillators In NonIschemic cardiomyopathy Treatment Evaluation) trial failed to demonstrate a significant reduction in the risk of death from any cause. When the investigators and the device manufacturer launched the trial and invented the acronym DEFINITE, they obviously were expecting a positive result. The negative result must be a big disappointment for them. As was commented in the accompanying editorial [3], bthe DEFINITE study is not the definitive word on this topicQ. There are many other positive-sounding acronyms of trials that turned out to yield negative results, such as ALIVE, ATLAS, CARDINAL, HALT-MI, IMPROVED, LIMIT AMI, MIRACLE, OPTIMIST, PROMISE, SAVED and SWORD (for definitions of these acronyms, please consult references [2] and [4]). I wish that inventors of trial
0167-5273/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijcard.2004.07.019
acronyms stopped inventing coercive acronyms [5] so that they would not have to eat crow later on.
References [1] Kadish A, Dyer A, Daubert JP, Quigg R, Mark Estes NA, Anderson KP, et al. For the Defibrillators in Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy Treatment Evaluation (DEFINITE) Investigators: prophylactic defibrillator implantation in patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. N Engl J Med 2004;350:2151 – 8. [2] Cheng TO. ATLAS, another negative trial with a positive-sounding acronym. Circulation 2003;108:e98. [3] Rogers JG, Cain ME. Electromechanical associations. N Engl J Med 2004;350:2193 – 5. [4] Cheng TO, Julian D. Acronyms of cardiological trials-2002. Int J Cardiol 2003;91:261 – 351 [Erratum, Int J Cardiol 2004;94:133]. [5] Orlowski JP, Christensen JA. The potentially coercive nature of some clinical research trial acronyms. Chest 2002;121:2023 – 8.