The design and interpretation of pilot trials in clinical research in critical care

Pilot trials are important to ensure that large randomized trials are rigorous, feasible, and economically justifiable. The objective of this review is to highlight the importance of randomized pilot trials and to describe key features of their design and interpretation using examples from critical care.We searched MEDLINE (1997-2007) and contacted experts to identify pilot randomized trials to exemplify and summarize their key methodologic...