Ann: Voluntary Suspension, page-248

It doesn't really matter what your beliefs are about what doctors will want to do. I prefer to rely on a leading US hospital like MGH than your opinion.

TK confirmed to me some months ago that the reason why MGH wanted to extend the trial for two years was to do a detailed analysis in the context of their ER for where in the heirachy of tests SMARTCOUGH-C sits. In other words, at what point does a SMARTCOUGH-C result render further tests superfluous. If SMARTCOUGH gives greater accuracy than the stethoscope, then it becomes useless. If however SMARTCOUGH is more accurate than x-rays or even the equivalent of bloodwork, then this can give them a basis to adjust their protocols. Now i'm not telling you where in the heirachy of diagnostic tests, SMARTCOUGH-C sits. But that is what MGH want to evaluate and its big dollars at stake for them. These higher order tests are very expensive and so there is the potential to save a great deal of unnecessary diagnostic tests and therefore dollars (not to mention far quicker diagnostic results).

I find it laughable that people are spending so much time discussing this. It is all irrelevant until we know the results and no amount of up-ramping or down-ramping is going to change the price whilst its in VS.