David Rose
Articles by this Author
Chemotherapy Can Do More Harm Than Good, Study Suggests
- By David Rose
- Published 11/11/2008
- Cancer
- Unrated
Doctors have been
urged to be more cautious in offering cancer treatment to
terminally-ill patients as chemotherapy can often do more harm than
good, a study suggests. Patients with incurable cancers were promised
much greater access to the latest drugs which could offer them extra
months or years of life by a Department of Health review last week.
Such medicines are often taken or injected as part of a “cocktail” of
chemotherapy drugs. But the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient
Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) found that more than four in ten patients
who received chemotherapy towards the end of life suffered potentially
fatal effects from the drugs, and treatment was “inappropriate” in
nearly a fifth of cases.
