9. Conclusions

A physician treating a patient with FOP must never withhold an available medication or treatment that may be truly helpful, but those medications must also be tested with scientific clarity to determine if they are, in fact, truly helpful or just simply the products of wishful thinking. As the Roman dramatist Terence warned more than two thousand years ago, “One easily believes what one earnestly hopes for.”

In the absence of clear evidence-based research from controlled clinical trials, it is difficult to advocate a particular therapy with enthusiasm. Although it is appealing to attempt to swim across multiple therapeutic currents to safety, the waters of FOP are deep and dangerous. The carefully designed and well-controlled clinical trial may ultimately be the safest bridge across these troubled waters of FOP. Such an approach will require the patience and fortitude of the entire FOP community.

In the meanwhile, the physician caring for a patient with FOP must constantly review evolving scientific information and chart the safest, most compassionate and most responsible course for the patient until the enduring bridges are built and their safety and efficacy verified.