BMJ 1996;312:575 (2 March)

Letters

Some treatment is only available abroad

EDITOR,--I am the parent of a child who had a brain tumour with a poor prognosis and who was treated at New York University by Professor Patrick Kelly. Consequently, I wish to comment on M C G Stevens and colleagues' concerns that apparently innovative treatments available outside Britain that offer better prospects for cure than treatments available in Britain have attracted media interest.1

Their article suggests that Britain is at the forefront in all areas of neurological research; it fails to acknowledge that techniques that are available only outside Britain have not only been trialled but also become established.2 The authors argue that benefits have been claimed for innovative treatments on the basis of unscrutinised data. If they refer to Kelly's published research data they will discover that his authority and methodology pass all scrutiny.

The authors question the validity of innovative treatments and then acknowledge that responsible and informed . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Treatment for children with brain tumours
M C G Stevens, A D Hockley, D Spooner, and A R Walsh
BMJ 1995 311: 1213-1214. [Extract] [Full Text]

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