Is it true that chemotherapy is effective only in a small percent of cancer case!

To cut the crab: False.

It is worth noting, that the book referenced on the site came out in 1990. And things have improved since then. And the improvements are seen in all fields that work with cancer treatment/diagnosis such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, pathology, radiology etc.

Here is a more updated chart on survival of childhood cancers: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancers…
And here you can take a look at survival statistics for a larger variety of cancers: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancers…

On the site you have found, there is also the claim that most oncologists won't have chemotherapy for themselves. This is a totally deceitful misrepresentation of the facts. A detailed analysis of that claim is presented here: http://anaximperator.wordpress.com/2010/…

Also the false claim that chemotherapy is effective in only a small percentage of cancer cases is given an analysis here: http://anaximperator.wordpress.com/2009/…

In both of these analyses the source is given, making it possible for anyone to check out the facts of the rumours for themselves.

The truth is that if cancer has progressed past stage 4 then chemotherapy doesn't usually work as fast as the body is dying.

Caught early, chemotherapy is much more successful.

Caregiver to my wife, a colon cancer survivor, and my mom and grandfather who died of colon cancer.

Wow,what a truthful straight from the heart answer from Spreedog only he has the guts to answer like that,a friend of mine refused chem because she didnt want her last days on earth to end without hair she had bone cancer.It was her choice

If you mean by "effective" - providing cures with far advanced malignancies, I agree with your concerns. For advanced non-small cell carcinomas of the lung, and advanced carcinomas of the pancreas, stomach, gall bladder, liver, adrenals, kidneys, esophagus, and especially advanced brain malignancies and many sarcomas - I often tried very hard to talk people OUT of taking chemotherapy - since it may do more harm than good, it is very expensive, and it is almost never curative in these diseases. Each case must be individualized since no two are alike.

It is very difficult to talk people out of chemotherapy ! Try it sometime.
Patients and their family members equate that with "giving up."
People believe there is a pill or drug for everything.
You can talk yourself blue in the face and present statistics,
yet all that people may hear or figure is that they might be one of the "15%"
(just as an example) who might gain a few months of extra time with some
form of chemotherapy.

Is an added survival time of three months "effective" in your opinion ?
Most people want those three months and yet secretly think they will
be cured no matter how clearly I explain the situation.

One of the most difficult experiences I had was a 96 year old patient with far advanced stomach cancer. She had zero chance of cure. She did NOT want to take chemotherapy, but all the family members insisted we could not "give up on her now." The level of medical ignorance out there is astounding. I do not mean you. This is a good question. I also dislike conspiracy theories. The people who believe them often represent the height of ignorance or lack of knowledge.

You should know that there are over 100 different chemotherapy drugs.
We use them in combinations to treat over 200 different diseases
and stages of "cancer" - hundreds of different regimens for many
very different diseases.
Drug companies advertise and push their own chemotherapy drugs
these days - to make more money of course.
Ethics seem to be rare in the world of profits and business
Cancer Treatment Centers of America claim to have better treatments
when they do not. They only have more aggressive marketing.

I have said this over and over on this forum - medicine should not be a business.
Far too many people are making way too much money,
but not the primary care family physicians or hands on cancer specialist physicians
who are on the front lines and must treat many uninsured people who cannot pay.
How can a doctor refuse to take care of a person with cancer or leukemia ?
And when patients insist they want to try chemotherapy, what would you do ?
Especially when they want to be treated with chemotherapy that I know
will not help significantly and I will have to pay for myself.
Drug companies in my time (1980s and 90s) offered no free drugs.
I had to buy their drugs and pay in full while many patients paid me nothing.
BUT - I did not go into the cancer medicine field to make money.
Some doctors do care about people more than money.
I'm afraid that number may be dwindling.

One added note - the article mentioned that advanced testicular carcinoma in men is very curable with chemotherapy. Ask Lance Armstrong.

MD hematologist and medical oncologist - cancer and leukemia specialist physician for 20 years