Technologies for Automating Randomized Treatment Assignment in Clinical Trials

Randomly assigning patients is considered the choice in clinical trials when comparing different treatments. Automatic treatment assignment systems have been developed in order to reduce costs, increase reliability, or to provide 24-hour service. Communication devices such as telephone, telefax, and computers can be used for this purpose. Advantages and disadvantages of the different technologies are discussed. It is demonstrated that the newly proposed central treatment assignment via standard computer networks is feasible, comfortable, and efficient.