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High dose chemo treatment kills more than it cures

01 July 1999

High dose chemotherapy for breast cancer a controversial treatment unsuccessfully tried by Linda McCartney, the wife of ex Beatle Paul is dangerous and of little benefit, four trials have concluded.

One study reports that the treatment was responsible for nearly 8 per cent of deaths.

Many frightened patients have decided to gamble on high dose chemotherapy in the US, where it has been made readily available following encouraging results from early trials.

Oncologists in Europe have not been keen to introduce it as routine practice.

The latest findings, released prematurely by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, could put the brakes on the practice in the US. In all, five trials into high dose chemotherapy have been carried out, and only one found it to be beneficial.

But despite the new warnings, several American cancer groups are demanding that the treatment be allowed to continue, so desperate are they for any therapy that can offer hope (Lancet, 1999; 353: 1633).

High dose chemo for breast cancer no advantage - There is no evidence to support the use of high dose chemotherapy over standard regimens in breast cancer treatment, say researchers in the Netherland...

High dose chemo suffers a fatal new blow - An early report of a recent trial has shown that high dose chemotherapy does not improve survival in women with metastatic breast cancer (Lancet, 2000...

Breast cancer-the unkindest cut - Most breast cancer surgeons engage in surgical overkill, and many safety questions surround the new wonder drugs. ... ...

Aromatase inhibitors for breast cancer - Oncologists often have only one strategy when dealing with breast cancer: stop the flow of oestrogen to the tumour. Although only half of all breast c...

Breast cancer trial discredited - A second major cancer study in the US has been discredited after data had been falsified. The news follows the revelation just a month earlier that th...

Combo chemo treatment is no more effective - Combined drug treatment for ovarian cancer is not more effective than single drug treatment, a new study reveals. ...

Breast cancer: no consensus - A study by the Thames Cancer Registry highlights the confusion among doctors over the best way of treating breast cancer. ...

Breast cancer findings faked - The largest trial in the US on breast cancer which began the shift away from mastectomy as the preferred treatment was falsified (BMJ, 26 March 1994)....

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