The acceptance or refusal of new therapies and technologies pose a formidable problem for the daily practice of the gastroenterologist. It is of utmost importance to adopt clear strategies to select the true evidences from the huge amount of new medical information. Gathering fundamental concepts of clinical epidemiology and medical informatics, evidence-based medicine (EBM) build up those strategies keeping the patient as the main objective of its application. The evidence-based medicine movement values the randomized controlled clinical trials, with adequate sample size and clear and valid outcomes. Facing conflicting results from those trials, evidence-based medicine values the systematic review and whenever possible its statistical counterpart, the meta-analysis. Evidence-based medicine provides valuable tools for the ethic and less subjective incorporation of new treatments and technologies in gastroenterology.
Evidence-based medicine; Education, medical, graduate