• nocturne@slrpnk.net
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    13 days ago

    [It was] a study involving a single participant.

    It is the most limited form of evidence in medicine.

    One person, one outcome, no control group, no way to separate the effect of the viruses from the many other variables that influence the course of any individual cancer.

    Halassy’s cancer may have responded to the viral injections precisely as the data suggest.

    It may also have been on a trajectory that would have allowed surgical removal regardless.

    There is no way to know, and this is not a technicality.

    • Allero@lemmy.today
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      13 days ago

      Absolutely. It highlights a curious direction of study, but doesn’t in itself prove anything. It might also be dangerous.

    • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
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      12 days ago

      People should always use all of the research methodologies at their disposal. I totally agree with your analysis, while also giving possible credence to the fact this might be true for that individual.