Survival and quality of life among patients receiving unproven as compared with conventional cancer therapy

Article Abstract:

Because of the well known side effects, and the lack of effectiveness, of much of conventional cancer treatment, many people with cancer have opted for alternative therapies. This follows a general trend toward self-care and active involvement of patients in their own treatment. Education has led to growing dissatisfaction on the part of patients and even some physicians with conventional approaches, which have not changed much in decades, and have not improved survival rates for most cancers. It is largely the better educated patient who is trying unconventional approaches. An estimated $10 billion is spent on unproven cancer treatments each year, with no effective means of evaluation. One of the primary reasons for choosing alternative therapies is to avoid the toxic effects of chemotherapy. In order to determine whether patients were better off with conventional or alternative treatment, 117 patients with end-stage cancer, half receiving conventional therapy and half receiving alternative therapy at the Livingston-Wheeler Medical Clinic were studied. As expected, length of survival did not differ between the two groups. Because there was no effective conventional treatment for these patients, both methods of treatment were equally futile, suggesting the need for no-treatment arms of research trials. Both groups of patients suffered adverse effects, whether on conventional or alternative therapies, but patients at Livingston-Wheeler were more likely to report adverse effects than patients receiving conventional therapy. Lower scores on quality of life may have been the result of higher expectations with alternative therapies, or perhaps a poorer quality of life originally motivated these patients to seek unconventional methods. Only one alternative method was studied here, at one center, and it was matched against one university hospital. This greatly limits any conclusions that can be drawn, but it is clear that future studies should compare a group receiving only pain relief with those receiving treatment, as well as patients who have some hope of survival. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Alternative medicine

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Cancer during pregnancy

Article Abstract:

Pregnant women can often be treated for cancer without significantly risking harm to their fetus. Cancer affects about one in one thousand pregnancies ending in a live birth. The placenta effectively protects the fetus from most maternal cancers, although melanoma, leukemia, and lymphoma have been shown to metastasize to the fetus. Pregnant women can undergo chemotherapy and radiation therapy, even in the first trimester of pregnancy, without significantly risking harm to the child. Methotrexate and other drugs that target rapidly growing tissue should be avoided in early pregnancy, when fetal tissues develop and differentiate rapidly.

United States, Editorial, Pregnant women, Pregnancy, Complications of, Pregnancy complications

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A prognostic model for predicting 10-year survival in patients with primary melanoma

Article Abstract:

A four-faceted model appears to be effective in predicting long-term survival in patients with melanoma. A total of 488 patients with melanoma were evaluated over a 10-year period for evidence of six risk factors potentially associated with long-term cancer survival. Four of these risk factors were significantly associated with survival including patient gender, patient age, cancer location, and tumor thickness. Using all four risk factors instead of just tumor thickness to predict survival decreased the error rate by half. Seventy-eight percent of these patients survived 10 years.

Prognosis, Tumor staging, Cancer staging, Melanoma

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