Patients
RECRUITMENT
Recruitment into the study was stopped early for futility after the interim analysis. The study included 689 patients by the time interim analysis was performed. Of these patients, 337 were assigned to receive HCD (193 in medical and 144 in surgical treatment), and 352 were assigned to receive conventional care (208 in medical and 144 in surgical treatment) (Table Baseline characteristics.Table Comparison of patient’s characteristics on admission and reason of hospitalization between groups.