Lung cancer patients vary in their preferences for chemotherapy
The median survival of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung
cancer can be prolonged by about 3 months with chemotherapy. Little is
known, however, about how patients weigh this benefit against the
toxicities of chemotherapy. On p 771 Silvestri et al interviewed
patients who had had chemotherapy and who agreed to reconsider the
decision. Some would choose chemotherapy for a survival benefit of as
little as 1 week, while others would not choose chemotherapy even when
offered a survival benefit of 24 months. When given the choice between
supportive care and chemotherapy most would not choose chemotherapy for
a survival benefit of 3 months. The apparent conflict between these
patients' preferences and the care they received has several
explanations; one is that they had not been fully informed.
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- Preferences for chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: descriptive study based on scripted interviews
- Gerard Silvestri, Robert Pritchard, and H Gilbert Welch
BMJ 1998 317: 771-775.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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