Clinical Trials

■■❚❙❘Chapter 16Multicenter TrialsAnn Truesdale, Ameet Bakhai, and Duolao WangA multicenter study has several advantages over a single-centerstudy, namely: it allows a large number of patients to be recruitedin a shorter time; the results are more generalizable andcontemporary to a broader population at large; and such studiesare critical in trials involving patients with rare presentationsor diseases. In this chapter, we discuss how multicenter trialsare conducted (reviewing the reasons for using the multicenterdesign), and how such trials are organized, and explain thepractical issues involved in planning, conducting, and analyzingsuch studies.153