To the Editor: We find ourselves in the curious position of criticising an article that supports improving access to radiotherapy. Baade and colleagues looked at cause-specific survival in all patients aged 20–79 years diagnosed with rectal cancer in Queensland.1 They found a 6% increase in cause-specific mortality risk for each 100 km increment in distance from the nearest radiotherapy facility. They concluded that the apparent poorer outcomes were due to a failure to receive radiotherapy.
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- 1. Baade PD, Dasgupta P, Aitken JF, Turrell G. Distance to the closest radiotherapy facility and survival after a diagnosis of rectal cancer in Queensland. Med J Aust 2011; 195: 350-354. <MJA full text>
- 2. Wong RK, Tandan V, De Silva S, Figueredo A. Pre-operative radiotherapy and curative surgery for the management of localized rectal carcinoma. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2007; (2): CD002102.
- 3. Morgan G. Why has radiotherapy utilisation not improved since 1999? J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol 2011; 55: 347-350.
No relevant disclosures.