Yeah - I know I said there wouldn't be anything else from me today. (Boys lie...)
I followed another link from the site that Topsy found -and came upon this as quite a neat summary:
"Adjuvant chemotherapy for cancer is a difficult treatment to understand. As one patient said: " You are suggesting that I have treatment which will make me temporarily unwell, to treat cancer that you can't find, and can't be sure you have eliminated even when treatment is finished". That is what adjuvant treatment is about. It is similar to life insurance. When you pay your premiums to the insurance company, you are recognizing a potential risk to your life that may or may not happen (car crash, sickness, earthquake, hurricane, etc.). Treatment with adjuvant chemotherapy is designed to reduce the risk of cancer returning. Large scale clinical trials have shown significant benefit from adjuvant therapy for patients with breast cancer, colon cancer, testicular cancer, lymphomas, etc. However, like so many things in life, adjuvant therapy does not come with a written guarantee. In spite of this "no guarantee" clause; when the length of time on treatment along with its side effects are balanced with the possible benefits such as a longer life, then for most patients eligible for treatment the benefits usually outweigh the risks. "
1 comment:
This was a great way to summarize adjunctive treatment. In addition to there not being a guarantee, there is so much uncertainty in the recommended drugs - the side effects are indetermistics, as well as the final outcome. Its a hard decision.
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