
Non-invasive treatment produces 98 percent prostate cancer cure rate - Fjolsvith
http://www.gizmag.com/sbrt-prostate-cancer-98-percent-cure-rate/42894/
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gumby
Sadly, you should be suspicious because this "article" is just a gloss of the
university's press release (and university press releases are notoriously
worthless).

The clue is phrases like "a cure rate of 98.6 percent". First of all in any
therapy that's an extraordinary number. But in face what's a "cure"? Typically
a study has specific endpoints; in oncology (not my specialty) they'll be
things like 5 year survival, tumor size reduction etc.

SBRT appears to be effective for small, contained tumors apparently like
prostate cancer, so that part is great.

~~~
jghn
It gets worse in oncology, you often see stuff like progression free survival.
This means it is possible for a treatment to provide no actual extension of
life, merely improve quality of that life and still be held up as great.

Quality of life _is_ great but sometimes what exactly a treatment is giving
you gets lost in the PR wash

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beagle3
There's another new treatment for prostate cancer; Only 80%/2years remission
rate, but has been approved (in Mexico so far) for use following Phase III
clinical trials. [http://www.timesofisrael.com/weizmann-developed-drug-
cures-p...](http://www.timesofisrael.com/weizmann-developed-drug-cures-
prostate-cancer-in-90-minutes-studies-show/)

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typetypetype
I wish articles about this sort of thing would highlight the researchers more.
If there is anyone deserving of public fame, it's the people who work to cure
cancer!

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gjolund
Feels like clickbait.

