BMJ 1995;311:889-890 (7 October)

Editorials

Chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer

A meta-analysis suggests that the benefits are small

For some cancers, treatments are so effective that the question of whether to treat does not arise. For many others, however, while gratifying responses sometimes occur, there are also substantial toxicities related to treatment, and benefits of any kind may be small. The toxicities, inconvenience, and expense of chemotherapy are endured by both patients whose tumours do and do not respond. When faced with such imperfect treatments, clinical trialists must determine, within the limitations of biological variability, whether these treatments result in statistically significant benefits and at what cost. Doctors thenhave to decide whether these benefits are clinically important and whether they outweigh potential risks for a particular patient.

With the relatively small absolute survival benefits observed for chemotherapy of non-small cell lung cancer, large numbers of patients are required to draw conclusions with confidence. In this issue of the Journal Albertini . . . [Full text of this article]


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