Evidence-Based Medicine and Stem Cell Therapy: How Do We Know Such Technologies are Safe and Efficacious?

Authors
Peter D. Clegg, Gina L. Pinchbeck
Date
August 2011
Journal
Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice
Volume
27
Number
2

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) refers to the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence from research for the care of an individual patient. Central to the adoption of EBM is both producing and identifying the best possible evidence for a particular intervention or therapy. This article identifies and reviews the approaches to producing and identifying the best possible evidence that is necessary for the full acceptance of stem cell therapies in the horse and reviews the approaches that will allow future clinical studies in stem cell therapies to provide the best evidence for determining efficacy.