EDITOR,—It is easy to sympathise with some of the points on both sides of the argument over whether chemotherapy should be given for solid tumours.1 The nihilistic approach promulgated by G M Mead, however, would lead to no advances in treatment being made. As Mead points out, treatments that might benefit only a small percentage of patients will be sought by most patients—though not by their doctors, as pointed out by Slevin et al.2 The dramatic improvement in …