Article Text
Abstract
In August 2011, a group of medical doctors, ethicists, academic and medical physicists were asked to debate and reach consensus on the potential need for randomised control trials to test charged particle radiation therapy (CPRT) for treating tumours. The outcome of the meeting was a paper recently published in the Journal of Medical Ethics entitled “Position statement on ethics, equipoise and research on charged particle therapy” by Sheehan et al. However 6 of the 30 meeting participants withdrew from authorship of the ‘position statement’ because their views were not adequately represented. The ‘position statement’ did not state our reasons for withdrawing from the statement, which is a considerable omission. We had two principal objections: (1) the case for the benefits to patients and society of randomized trials to test CPRT was not adequately represented, and (2) the complexities and potential harms of CPRT were not clearly stated. In this response we explain and justify our objections. Patients, doctors and policymakers seeking to make independent judgments about whether equipoise exists for the relative benefits of CPRT should therefore read this document alongside the ‘position’ statement.
- Clinical trials
- Ethics Committees/Consultation
- Research Ethics
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Linked Articles
Read the full text or download the PDF:
Other content recommended for you
- Position statement on ethics, equipoise and research on charged particle radiation therapy
- Proton beam therapy: the next disruptive innovation in healthcare?
- Local treatment failure after globe-conserving therapy for choroidal melanoma
- Predictive factors for the development of rubeosis following proton beam radiotherapy for uveal melanoma
- Durvalumab with or without tremelimumab combined with particle therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma with macrovascular invasion: protocol for the DEPARTURE phase Ib trial
- PO-109 Particle therapy reduces weight loss and toxicities among patients with head and neck cancer
- Uveal tumour resection
- Impact of tumour volume and treatment delay on the outcome after linear accelerator-based fractionated stereotactic radiosurgery of uveal melanoma
- The role of proton therapy in gynecological radiation oncology
- Proton therapy for craniopharyngioma in adults: a protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis