Cancer in adolescents and young adults

Mitchell, Anne E; Scarcella, Deborah L; Rigutto, Gemma L; Ashley, David M; Thursfield, Vicky J; Giles, Graham G; Sexton, Maree

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2004.tb06140.x

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In reply: Thomson is correct in stating that patients involved in clinical trials have better 5-year survival rates when compared with patients not recruited into clinical trials. There may, as Thomson points out, be numerous possible explanations for this finding. Nonetheless, this improvement in survival is well documented and has been recognised for some time.1

3 Department of Haematology and Oncology, Royal Children’s Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, VIC 3052
5 Cancer Epidemiology Centre, The Cancer Council, Melbourne, VIC
6 Paediatric Radiation Oncology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Melbourne, VIC.

Correspondence: mitchell.anne@bigpond.com

1. Stiller CA, Draper GJ. Treatment centre size, entry to clinical trials, and survival in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Arch Dis Child 1989; 64: 657-661.
2. Bottomley A, Vanvoorden V, Flechtner H, Therasse P. The challenges and achievements involved in implementing Quality of Life research in cancer clinical trials. Eur J Cancer 2003; 39: 275-285.
3. Albritton K, Bleyer WA. The management of cancer in the older adolescent. Eur J Cancer 2003; 39: 2584-2599.

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