Inference for a RPW-type clinical trial with repeated monitoring for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

The present paper describes a controlled clinical trial to investigate the effect of Pulsed Electro-Magnetic Field for the treatment of sequentially entering patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. According to the study design, repeated monitorings of the patients are carried out to assess their clinical status. The allocation of the entering patients to either a therapy group or a placebo group is done using a newly designed adaptive allocation rule termed as randomized longitudinal play-the-winner rule. A discussion of some inference procedures is followed by the analysis of a real data, which shows a clear preference of the therapy over the placebo.