This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Robert K. Oye, MD; Martin F. Shapiro, MD, PhD
UCLA School of Medicine Center for Health Sciences Los Angeles

JAMA. 1985;253(16):2364.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In Reply.—

We agree with Dr Omura that complete responders warrant special consideration when effectiveness of chemotherapy is assessed. Nevertheless, the presence of a few complete responders does not guarantee that chemotherapy either improves survival or is beneficial to the majority of patients treated, and in the studies that we reviewed, complete responses were uncommon. We are also concerned that, in addition to partial response, investigators are reporting other categories of response, such as minor response, less than partial response, and disease stabilization rather than focusing on complete responders. We do not disagree that psychological support, relief of symptoms, and research are valid additional indications for treatment. One must be concerned, however, about toxic effects of treatment given for psychological support.

It is distressing that Dr Lane questions the appropriateness of critically evaluating published trials. Scientific publications should be able to withstand scrutiny. Without such scrutiny, unsubstantiated conclusions are more . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?