Posted: Jun 16, 2012 2:57 pm
epepke wrote:It would be of no relevance, if and only if there were some clear studies that very carefully controlled for this effect. They would, rather obviously, be valid independently from this effect.
I don't know if there are such studies. If there are, then I think that decisions based on them would be perfectly valid. I don't know, however, that this is the case.
What I think I know is that most decisions made about chemotherapy aren't so careful. I think that a culture of casual chemotherapy and radiotherapy has evolved on the basis of not being particularly careful
You may think I'm being anal or picky, but I think this is fairly important.
ETA: Note that I do not know this for certain. However, bald assertions that cancers, or cancers of certain kinds can be treated with chemotherapy if caught early enough, strike me as a bit vapid. I don't know what evidence, if any, there are.
If you're interested, you might try looking at this example, which lists a series of protocols for treatment of breast cancer based on staging of the disease. Each treatment is accompanied by a hyperlink that provides the list of studies upon which the recommendation is based. To be honest, the only "bald assertions" seem to be coming from you.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/ ... onal/page1