Erschienen in:
01.02.2011 | Pancreatic Tumors
Standardizing Pancreas Research
verfasst von:
Martin A. Makary, MD, MPH
Erschienen in:
Annals of Surgical Oncology
|
Ausgabe 2/2011
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Excerpt
This report highlights a subject that has received little attention to date: standardization of surgery in cancer research. For too long, medical oncologists and surgeons have designed trials in isolation from each other. As the authors point out, a hazard to such a partisan approach is the lack of attention to detail in the field least familiar to the commanding investigators. In this case, the lack of attention to surgical details in ACOSOG Z5031 resulted in an unknown influence of confounding variables. Because these variables affect the true margin status and because they were not accounted for, the overall study results are challenging to interpret and difficult to apply broadly. Surgery remains the only cure for pancreas cancer, and chemotherapy remains the only hope for many patients. Developing research protocols that ensure a complete and standard measurement of medical and surgical therapy is critical to interpreting data and making generalizable conclusions. …