A new study supported by Public Health England and Cancer Research UK found some hospitals have 30-day mortality rates higher than 50 percent for patients who received chemotherapy. The study results suggest further scrutiny may be required when deciding to administer chemotherapy to patients.
For the study, published in The Lancet Oncology, researchers analyzed data on more than 23,000 breast cancer patients and close to 10,000 lung cancer patients who received chemotherapy across the United Kingdom in 2014. Among these patients, more than 1,300 died within 30 days of beginning chemotherapy treatment. Across the UK, the total rate of 30-day mortality was found to be 8.4 percent for lung cancer patients and 2.4 percent for breast cancer patients. However, 30-day mortality rates among statistical outliers climbed as high as 50.9 percent.
Death within 30 days of beginning chemotherapy indicates that the medicine, not the cancer is the primary cause of death, according to The Telegraph.
"The concern is that some of the patients dying within 30 days of being given chemo probably shouldn't have been given the chemo. But, how many?" David Cameron, clinical director and chair of oncology at Edinburgh (Scotland) Cancer Centre, told the Telegraph. "There is no easy way to answer that, but perhaps looking at those places/hospitals where the death rate was higher might help. Furthermore, if we give less chemo then some patients will die because they didn't get chemo. It's a fine balance and the more data we have the better we can be at making sure we get the balance right."
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