Topic: SGU 5x5 #108

[Mike]

Cancer Cure

[drax13]

I'm finally almost done with all the 5x5 episodes in the archive, and I have a small problem with this one.  The cancer cure.  I don't believe in any of the alternative treatments mentioned in the episode.  I do have a problem with the term "cancer survivor" or people being described as surviving cancer.  The term makes it sound as though the person has gone through something and come out the other side of an ordeal.  This isn't the case at all.  Surviving cancer simply means that you lived through the five years following your diagnosis.  Nothing more.  In fact it isn't uncommon for people to die from a cancer that they "survived".  It's misleadiing at best and I'm not sure what it is at the worst.  False advertising perhaps?

I'm not sure that saying "more and more people are surviving cancer" is necessarily indicative of progress in the treatment of cancer.  It could mean that more people are getting types of cancer that are "survivable", or that progress has been made in keeping cancers from killing patients at least for that five year period.

[Daws]

The problem with the "test subjects" issue is that all the hucksters or believers in a quack cure will indeed provide supposed examples of test subjects it worked on, it's called anecdotal evidence. You'll find tons saying acupuncture or the gerson diet worked on them. The problem is it's anecdotal and likely in conjunction with other legit treatment.

But the point is, for any quackery you'll find people believing "it worked for me" and thus are part of promoting the myth in the first place.

[Trinoc]

If "survival" is defined as still being alive 5 years after diagnosis, could improved survival statistics simply be down to earlier diagnosis? Has anyone done any statistics based not on survival after the date of diagnosis but survival after the disease has progressed to a comparable stage?