"The War In Medicine"

     Continued from last post

This is the conversation that followed:

    "What will the NCI use as a criteria for success or failure
in these treatments?" I asked.

    "Tumor size," Dr. Enseeye replied.

    I said, "Let me make sure I understand what you are saying.
Suppose you have a patient with a given tumor. Let's suppose
that this patient is treated by one of these two methods. Let's
say that the tumor is greatly reduced in size in the next
three months, but the patient dies. How will the NCI classify
that?

    "The NCI will classify that as a success."

    "Why?" I asked.

    "Because the tumor got smaller," he replied.

    I then asked, "Suppose you have a similar patient with a
similar tumor who was treated with a different method. Suppose
that after two years this patient is alive and well, but the
tumor is no smaller. How will the NCI classify this?"

    "They will classify that as a failure."

    "Why?" I asked.

    "Because the tumor did not get any smaller," he said.
Dr. Enseeye went on to say, "In this study the NCI will not
be interested in whether the patient lives or dies. They
will be interested only in whether the tumor gets bigger or
smaller."

    I chose not to participate in this study!"
    Philip Binzel - Alive and Well

       Continued

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