Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology
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Comparative Study
Ethical issues in phase I oncology research: a comparison of investigators and institutional review board chairpersons.
Phase I research trials assess the safety of agents never before administered to humans. In the field of oncology, this practice raises several important ethical questions. We examined the ethics of these trials by surveying phase I oncology investigators and institutional review board (IRB) chairpersons at major cancer research centers around the country. ⋯ Although individual IRB chairpersons and oncology investigators may have important differences of opinion concerning the ethics of phase I trials, these disagreements do not represent a widespread area of ethical conflict in clinical research.
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Metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) is a disabling complication to cancer, the optimal treatment for which is not settled. An analysis was performed for all patients with MSCC secondary to lung cancer in East Denmark from 1979 to 1988. ⋯ Despite a short survival, early diagnosis and immediate treatment is crucial because it may preserve the gait function in 97% of lung cancer patients who develop malignant spinal cord compression.