Only very lately has the idea of a chemotherapy-induced, palliative effect on disease-related symptoms in patients with pancreatic cancer been discussed in the literature. When attempting to evaluate whether treatment with various 5-FU-containing regimens led in an improvement in performance status, a weight gain, or an improvement in tumor-related symptoms in patients with gastric or pancreatic cancer, suggested that these criteria may be used to gauge the clinical effectiveness of a given therapy. Using that earlier work as a foundation and the aim to quantify any improvement in disease-related symptoms, we created the clinical benefit concept as a way to evaluate the impact of cancer chemotherapy.
