Oncologists should measure life, not death: a newer perspective of cancer statistics.
We discuss why we should measure parameters of 'life' and not 'death' in choosing a therapy for cancer and what are the flaws and difficulties in measuring cancer specific deaths. We then submit those parameters which can be measured with high precision and validity in cancer patients and so should be recorded to guide us in deciding the best therapy.
Srivastava
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Department of Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. shivastava_anu@hotmail.com
Sood
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D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D006801:Humans; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D010819:Physician's Role