The Oncologists' Guaranteed Employment Act Of 2008

This is ironic, ASCO did a study which showed no evidence of benefit for (empirically-selected) adjuvant chemotherapy in Stage II colon cancer. But wait, even in the face of a negative study, ASCO said that it was OK for individual oncologists and patients to make the decision whether or not they want to be treated. You see, they wouldn't tell their colleagues not to give chemotherapy if they really wanted to.

The question gets asked in randomized studies. They do a big meta-analysis and still get a negative result. But still says, well, OK, you can use it if/when you really want to, if it's OK with your patient. Efficacy has been tested and refuted, but it's still OK to use treatment which has been proven to be non-efficacious. Just wait awhile, someone else will come up with something different. I believe this is what ASCO has been looking for. It's OK to give chemotherapy in whatever venue an oncologist wants. The Oncologists' Guaranteed Employment Act of 2008.

J Clin Oncol 22:3408-3419.© 2004 by American Society of Clinical Oncology