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Epidemiology
Epidemiology has been defined as the use of knowledge on the frequency and distribution of disease to search for causes.
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Psychosocial Aspects
Of all diseases, cancer is the one that has the most formidable psychological impact. It spells not only death—the destiny of us all—but a progressive and painful approach to it, and mutilation, either natural...
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Prevention
In much of the world, cancer is now second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of suffering, premature death and economic loss. It is estimated that 70%-80% of cancers are caused by environmental factors...
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Natural History of Cancer
Studies in human beings and in experimental animals indicate that cancer is the result of a multistage process and is multifactorial in its aetiology. The multistage process comprises at least two steps: initi...
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Melanoma
Melanoma is particularly interesting to study because:
It is rapidly increasing in incidence over the world. In the United States the incidence has doubled every 15 years s...
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Thorax
Lung cancer deserves special emphasis:
Because cure rates are low and the incidence is high, it is the number one cancer killer in industrialised countries and it continues...
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Diagnosis
The diagnosis of cancer depends on the patient’ s consulting a physician. This in turn depends on the patient ’s knowledge of health problems. He may know merely that if he has pain or bleeding, the physician ...
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Thyroid
Thyroid cancer accounts for about 1% of all cancer. The incidence is higher in countries where goitre is endemic. This applies particularly to the less differentiated varieties of thyroid cancer. It occurs at ...
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Male Genital Organs
Testicular tumours may arise from germinal cells, from cells of the gonadal stroma or from non-gonadal cells. The latter group is referred to as secondary testicular tumours; they usually represent the initial...
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Central Nervous System
Central nervous system (CNS) tumours account for 2%–5% of all tumours in man. The incidence is higher among the white races than among Negroes. The sex ratio is about 1:1 for most histological types. An import...
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Leukaemias
The term leukaemia is composed of the Greek words leukós which means white and haima which means blood. A massive increase of white blood cells causing the blood to become white after a few minutes outside the bo...
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Lymphomas and Myeloma
Lymphomas are malignant diseases arising from lymphoreticular cells. Such cells are located particularly in lymph nodes. Hence, tumourous enlargement of the lymph nodes is the leading clinical symptom. However...
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Cancer Therapy
Medical research continues to define better ways for the selection and delivery of anti-cancer drugs. New developments for cancer therapy are also impacting the surgical treatment of cancer. The use of lasers ...
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Introduction and Survey
In the past, most clinicians have focused their interest on the end stage of human cancer, i.e. diagnosis and treatment of the patient with an established cancer, usually (in over 50% of cases) progressing fai...
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Rehabilitation
Although one can usually estimate the percentage risk of recurrence following treatment of cancer patients, in each individual there is some uncertainty about long-term cure. One ’s judgment as to possibilitie...
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Prognosis
After cancer has been diagnosed, the patient or a relative frequently asks for an opinion as to the probable outcome of the treatment that has been recommended. It is to be expected that the doctor concerned w...
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Pathology
A neoplasm is a disturbance of growth characterised primarily by an excessive proliferation of cells without apparent relationship to the physiological demands of the organ involved. Numerous varieties arise f...
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Skin Cancer
Skin cancer is by far the most common cancer amongst white populations, surpassing all other cancers combined. The exact incidence is not known because many skin cancers are not reported by the treating physician...
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Mass Screening and Early Detection
The idea that earlier diagnosis leads to better prognosis is appealingly simple. This chapter concerns the extension of that idea to the routine periodic screening of large populations of persons without sympt...
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Head and Neck
This chapter on cancers of the head and neck covers: cancers of the lip; oral cavity (buccal mucosa, gums, hard palate, oral tongue, floor of the mouth); oropharynx (tonsil, soft palate, base of the tongue); n...
