BMJ 1995;310:1328-1329 (20 May)

Letters

Chemotherapy for solid tumours

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 response rates and survival in leukaemias, lymphomas, and testicular cancer would never have happened if aggressive, highly toxic treatments had not been tried. Those of us who treated breast cancer with adjuvant chemotherapy many years ago, long before it was an accepted treatment, repeatedly questioned whether it was worth while when otherwise well women engaged in pavlovian vomiting on entering the clinic. It has taken the data from tens of thousands of . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Controversies in Management: Chemotherapy for solid tumours
G M Mead
BMJ 1995 310: 246-247. [Extract] [Full Text]

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