[A role of statistical thinking in clinical anesthesia practice].

The world where we practice anesthesia is composed of heterogeneic, multivariate components. Yet, these components are not known with certainty. Nevertheless, we are compelled to make a prediction and, furthermore, to make a decision to treat patients at risk. Therefore, decision making under uncertainty is one of the important issues in clinical practice. A fundamental strategy for such action would be one of statistical thinking process, which is widely applicable in many circumstances to reduce the degree of uncertainty and to construct a tool to deal with uncertainty. Here, topics relevant to statistical thinking and its pitfalls are discussed, including those related to information theory. In short, statistical thinking will, I believe, remain to be valid to make an appropriate prediction and decision in the years to come.