text_1: Some Doctors Question New Cancer Treatment
text_2: "This story shows how ""a shortcut the Food and Drug Administration allows for granting regulatory approval to certain medical devices"" has allowed the NanoKnife, an experimental treatment with very limited evidence, to be touted as the latest cure for cancer. The story hits nearly all of our marks, although we wish there were more detail in areas such as costs, potential benefits, and the overall evaluation of the evidence. This device is the type one might see advertised on the side of a bus or in the back pages of of a weekly tabloid. Health reporters often ignore these claims to focus on the higher profile blockbuster drugs being sold by major drug companies or some breakthrough discovery in a major scientific journal. The promotion and use of these under-researched devices can have devastating consquences for patients. In addition, one of the major drivers of increasing health care costs is the introduction of new technologies. While additional costs may be justified if there is an improvement in patient outcomes associated with the new technology, newer is not always better. The NanoKnife is the latest in a series of new devices, approved by the FDA, that have yet to demonstrate a substantive improvement in patient outcomes. Hospital promotion of new technologies is now rivaling that of other commercial interests with unsubstantiated claims."