Cisplatin is a chemotherapeutic agent that has dramatically altered the prognosis for patients with a variety of tumors. Its promise as an anticancer agent was recognized in the mid-1960s when Rosenberg et al.¹ were studying the effects of electric fields on cellular growth. They noted that Escherichia coli grown in an apparatus containing platinum electrodes elongated but did not divide. This effect was found to be due to the production of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum, now commonly known as cisplatin, in the growth medium. In 1968, as the result of a leap of faith or intuition, investigators began to test cisplatin and . . .