השוואת שיטות

	סדרת מקרים רב-מרכזית – מחקר קליני תיאורי רב-אתרי	ניסוי קליני רב-מרכזי אקראי
תחום	אפידמיולוגיה	אפידמיולוגיה
משפחה	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
שנת המקור	Mid-to-late 20th century (collaborative multi-site reporting common by 1970s–1980s)	1970s–1980s (widespread adoption for large-scale efficacy trials)
הוגה השיטה	Evolved from single-center case series practice; formalized in 20th century clinical reporting	Evolved from single-center RCT methodology; consolidated through landmark trials such as the MRC streptomycin trial (1948) and large cardiovascular mega-trials of the 1970s–1980s
סוג	Observational descriptive study	Interventional experimental design
מקור מכונן	Dekkers, O. M., Vandenbroucke, J. P., Cevallos, M., Renehan, A. G., Altman, D. G., & Egger, M. (2012). COSMOS-E: Guidance on conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies of etiology and prognosis. PLoS Medicine, 9(2), e1001175.	Friedman, L. M., Furberg, C. D., DeMets, D. L., Reboussin, D. M., & Granger, C. B. (2015). Fundamentals of Clinical Trials (5th ed.). Springer. ISBN: 978-3319185385
כינויים	multi-site case series, multicentre case series, collaborative case series, multi-institutional case series	multi-site RCT, multicenter RCT, multinational randomized trial, multicenter controlled trial
קשורות	5	6
תקציר	A multicenter case series is an observational descriptive study in which consecutive or selected patients sharing a defined clinical condition are enrolled and followed at two or more independent clinical sites. By pooling cases across institutions, researchers achieve larger sample sizes and greater demographic and clinical diversity than a single-center series permits, enabling more reliable description of disease presentation, management patterns, and outcomes for rare or uncommon conditions.	A multicenter randomized clinical trial (RCT) is an experimental study in which eligible participants are randomly assigned to intervention or control arms simultaneously across two or more clinical sites. By combining the rigor of randomization with enrollment from geographically or institutionally diverse centers, this design produces large samples and externally valid effect estimates that single-center trials rarely achieve. It is the regulatory gold standard for confirmatory efficacy and safety evaluation of new treatments.