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Clinical trials of adjuvant radiation therapy for breast cancer
Author(s) -
Raventos A.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197702)39:2+<941::aid-cncr2820390733>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - medicine , clinical trial , credibility , breast cancer , radiation therapy , randomized controlled trial , clinical practice , adjuvant radiotherapy , cancer , randomization , intensive care medicine , medical physics , family medicine , surgery , political science , law
Years ago, radiation therapists conducted randomized clinical trials which showed that regional irradiation significantly reduces local recurrence of breast cancer but does not often affect life span. No new findings challenge these conclusions. Controlled trials in general have lost some credibility, however, as it has become more widely recognized that they are very vulnerable to fallacious reasoning and to simple human error. There is serious concern that some physicians may be unwisely abandoning well tested treatment methods because of the premature dissemination of early results of some trials. Still, many important questions remain that can only be answered by clinical trials, some including radiation therapy. This paper suggests that randomization schemes be incorporated into “routine” medical practice, although only after the most careful deliberation, in order to hasten fuller understanding of old therapeutic methods as well as new ones.