Need help reading medical journal articles regarding clinical trials

[Jdhanoa]

Hi all,

My dad was recently diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic PC. Gleason 4+5 PSA 200.

I’ve been trying to do as much research as I can regarding his diagnosis in order to provide him the best absolute care we can. I’ve been reading the varies clinical trials however I am having a hard time interpreting them. I was wondering if someone could help me better understand the terminology.

In particular, what does this sentence exactly mean “Median overall survival was not reached for those with high-volume disease (HR 0.69; 95% CI: 0.57-0.82”?

Thank you

[Tall_Allen]

Median overall survival was not reached for those with high-volume disease (HR 0.69; 95% CI: 0.57-0.82

"Median" means half of the men in that trial

"Overall survival" means they did not die from any cause

"Not reached" means that half of the men getting whatever therapy that trial looked at did not die during the follow-up period. Trials are usually ended when half the patients in the control group died.

"High volume disease" was the number of metastases defined as "high volume" in that particular trial .

"HR 0.69"= Hazard Ratio -- it means that among patients with high volume disease, the death rate was reduced by 31% by that therapy

"95% CI: 0.57-0.82" means that with 95% confidence, the actual death rate reduction was somewhere between 18% and 43%. If the CI (Confidence Interval) does not exceed 1.00, it is statistically significant with 95% confidence.

[Jdhanoa in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thank you so much TA, i assumed the complete opposite of "not reached"

[dhccpa in reply to Tall_Allen]

So it didn't mean that no one at all with high volume reached the median overall survival?

Also, is high volume defined differently for each clinical trial?

Thanks.

[Tall_Allen in reply to dhccpa]

Some trials use the same definition, some use different definitions.

[HopingForTheBest1]

Before seriously considering çlinical trials, make sure you have evaluated the numerous standard of care options first.