The value of adjuvant and palliative antitumor drug treatment in reduction mortality from malignant neoplasms

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DOI:  https://www.doi.org/10.31917/1704247

Despite the significant number of scientific discoveries in the field of cancer research, the reduction of mortality rate from malignant neoplasms according to various sources amounts to only 10–20%. A very limited number of diseases boast the terminal payoff in using adjuvant chemotherapy and this effect is even less in palliative antitumor drug treatment. The contribution of these treatments in reducing mortality from all malignant neoplasms is lost and has no precise digital expression. The main problem of the lack of precise data is the inability to automatically extrapolate the statistical end points in clinical research studies on the general population and equate some of them to epidemiologic mortality rate. From the perspective of evidence-based medicine the significance of adjuvant and palliative drug treatment to reduce mortality from breast cancer and colorectal cancer looks most compelling. The decrease in mortality from malignant neoplasms is the result of cumulative contributions of the economic resources of health systems, availability of screening and programs aimed at addressing risk factors in the development of malignant tumors, as well as certain infrastructure and facilities for the proper conduct of all types of cancer treatment (including rehabilitation measures), level of education of oncologists and their adherence to current guidelines.