[As valuable as an organ donation. Enrollment in a clinical study requires patient willingness to make sacrifices].

Patients are by far the most important partners within the complete ensemble involved in clinical studies. Their participation involves a number of additional inconveniencies. Not infrequently, the consent discussion is followed by complementary diagnostic procedures. Besides the objective pressure of expectation there are also subjective fears, which increase in weight the longer the study progresses. During the post-observational period, participants are periodically requested to undertake further control examinations at varying time intervals. By means of their consent, study patients volunteer as supporters in favor of the anonymous successors in the study suffering from the same disease. Obviously, the sacrifices which the enrolled patients make for medical research can be placed on a par with organ donations.