[Therapy studies in medical oncology. Analysis of progress-- Usefulness for the individual patient]

Since the end of the nineteen-forties, medical oncologists have been using cytostatic drugs and, in the case of some tumors, hormone-active substances. To these have been added in recent years, although only for a few indications, the so-called biological response modifiers (BRM substances) such as interferons and interleukins. New substances and methods are accepted into routine practice only after well-documented clinical trials. This development is, however, far from being complete; there continues to be a requirement for new standards and an optimisation of indications, dosages, drug combinations, modes of administration, and intervals between dosages. On the basis of a number of studies, it is shown how, building on the experience obtained in earlier trials, the curative and palliative effects of such treatments can be improved. In the palliative situation, in particular, the indication and nature of chemotherapy must be reconsidered since most earlier studies failed to document the factor "quality of life".