Sad Trial Names: Social Media Thinks Cardiology Is Going Through It

Cardiology is going through it — so say commenters on social media, at least.

During last week’s European Society of Cardiology (ESC) meeting in Munich, a trial name caught attendees’ eyes: SINGLE-AF.

The trial, about oral anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation, follows another one presented at last year’s meeting from the same research group: ALONE-AF.

“Whoever is naming cardiology trials is going through something because first ALONE-AF … now SINGLE-AF,” said one cardiologist on Instagram.

AF is short for atrial fibrillation and has long been used in trial names about the condition.

Boyoung Joung, MD, of Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, is the corresponding author on both trials, which were simultaneously presented at the meeting and published in journals.

He did not return a request for comment as of press time. But commenters on social have been filling in the gaps with their own takes.

“Afib trials are starting to get personal,” said another post from a cardiologist. “So kind of them to consider me when naming these trials.”

Dmitry Yaranov, MD, a heart transplant physician in Tennessee, wrote on Instagram that the “investigators knew exactly what they were doing.”

“You cannot convince me otherwise,” he wrote. “Because you can be SINGLE-AF … but your anticoagulation decision still requires commitment.”

A post from another cardiologist asked, “when did cardiology become so lonely and sad?” A heart failure doctor asked, “EP [electrophysiology], you good?” And a neurosurgeon dramatized the names by standing solo on a balcony and looking forlornly into the distance, titling the post, “POV: the cardiologist who named the trials.”

One skit even portrayed a marketing director desperately trying to steer the investigator away from the name choices. “I’m definitely losing my job,” he quipped.

MedPage Today also joined in with an Instagram post, joking that physicians should comment to find their next “fibrillation-ship.” “Thank us later,” the post stated.

One savvy commenter on MedPage Today‘s post noted that others keep forgetting about the IDEAL-AF trial which was also presented at the meeting: “SINGLE-AF and ALONE-AF is IDEAL-AF,” they wrote. That trial, however, was not run by Joung’s group.

The trend inspired other specialties to create desperate-sounding names for their own trials. Shruti Patel, MD, a gastrointestinal medical oncologist in California, came up with GHOSTED, for “Guided Hormonal therapy Optimization after Standard Treatment in Endocrine-responsive Disease,” and REBOUND, for “REchallenge with anti-EGFR therapy: Biomarker-selected Outcomes following an UNtreated interval after acquired Drug resistance.”

While clinical trials often have catchy acronyms — and the “AF” for atrial fibrillation trials has always raised eyebrows — there was something unique about names that sound like surprisingly vulnerable relationship status updates that allowed the memes to take flight.

As one commenter noted, it shows that physicians haven’t lost their sense of humor.