Statistical issues in clinical trials

The care for patients having organ transplants has improved greatly. This improvement is due, in part, to the advances in knowledge gained through clinical trials. These trials are most useful when they address questions which are important (to patients, their families and their clinical care-givers), which are at their most rigorous statistically (by reducing bias and increasing precision), and which relate closely to the real world. Statisticians and clinicians need to work together to achieve these aims.