The previous volume of this series on soft tissue sarcomas highlighted the importance of the multidisciplinary approach to treatment, the focus of which is continued in the present edition. Proper diagnosis and staging remain the cornerstone of the treatment strategy. Sophisticated histopathology techniques and growing consensus on grading systems have further increased the importance of the histopathologist in providing estimates of the prognosis of the patient as well as providing data for the planning of treatment strategy. The use of cytogenetics is relatively new in this field. This...

The results of randomized trials evaluating the use of early or adjuvant systemic treatment for patients with resectable breast cancer provide an eloquent rebuttal to those who would argue that we have made no progress in the treatment of cancer. Many of the tumors that we have been most successful in curing with chemotherapy and other newer forms of treatment are relatively uncommon. In contrast, breast cancer continues to be the single most common malignancy among women in the western world, is increasingly a cause of death throughout Asia and Third-World countries, and remains one of the...

Where do you begin to look for a recent, authoritative article on the diag- nosis or management of a particular malignancy? The few general oncology textbooks are generally out of date. Single papers in specialized journals are informative but seldom comprehensive; these are more often preliminary reports on a very limited number of patients. Certain general journals frequently publish good in-depth reviews of cancer topics, and published symposium lectures are often the best overviews available. Unfortunately, these reviews and supplements appear sporadically, and the reader can never be...

Osteosarcoma in Adolescents and Young Adults: New Developments and Controversies is the fifth volume in the series Cancer Treatment, and Research' devoted to pediatric oncology. Like its immediate predecessor, Hodgkin's Disease in Children: Controversies and Current Practice, this volume also deals with the current state of affairs: where do researchers differ in opinions or firmly held beliefs? What does the future hold for research or for the patients who have benefited from research and are now cured? etc.
The first part deals with preclinical and...

The importance of drug resistance in cancer chemotherapy cannot be over- stated. The 500,000 patients who die every year from cancer in the United States have, in most cases, been treated with chemotherapy. Many of these patients responded initially to chemotherapy, but death resulted from the development of drug-resistant tumors. In the first volume in the series. Drug Resistance in Chemotherapy the results of comprehensive laboratory studies aimed at understanding the mechanisms for resistance to individual agents and to the development of broad cross-resistance were described. In the past...

Gastrointestinal tract malignancies encompass a spectrum of diseases with marked differences in etiology, incidence, biological behavior, and treatment outcome. The incidence of new gastrointestinal cases recorded yearly for patients residing in the United States is approximately 230,000, representing nearly 20% of all cancer cases. Worldwide, gastrointestinal malignancies are responsible for the largest number of cancer deaths, particularly because of the high incidence of hepatocellular and gastric cancer in other countries.
Gastrointestinal Oncology is directed to those most...

The field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is rapidly evolving. Realization that hematopoietic stem cells give rise to the immune compartment has resulted in clinical trials of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for patients with autoimmune diseases. Allogeneic hematopoietic transplants are a form of adoptive immunotherapy resulting in beneficial graft versus tumor effects. Large numbers of hematopoietic cells can be collected with ease. Therefore, a renewable source of cells for ex vivo genetic manipulations is readily available. Multiple trials combining hematopoietic...

Introduction The prevailing model of medical care for patients with cancer emphasizes the curative efforts of medical technology toward the eradication of the disease. Yet the suffering of the patient as a result of both the disease and our efforts to treat it is often overlooked. If we are to improve the survival of patients with cancer, it will be through intensive research into the molecular under- pinnings of the disease and clinical trials of new therapies. However, it is essen- tial to recognize and address the suffering of cancer patients as they are being treated. It is the purpose of...

The previous volumes in this series on soft tissue sarcomas highlighted the importance of the multidisciplinary approach to treatment, and this focus is continued in the present volume. Proper diagnosis and staging remain the cornerstone of the treatment strategy. Sophisticated histopathology tech- niques and growing consensus on grading systems have further increased the importance of the histopathologist in providing estimates of patient prognosis as well as in providing data for planning the treatment strategy. The use of cytogenetics in this field is rapidly increasing and might enable...

This volume, Biological and Hormonal Therapies of Cancer, which is part of the series Cancer Treatment and Research, presents selected new information concerning biologic and hormonal therapy of cancer. We have attempted to provide the reader with topics of major interest in a timely fashion. There is renewed interest in biologic therapy of cancer. Two chapters review the role of interferon in the hematologic malignancies and in solid tumors. Vaccine therapies have come to the forefront of cancer therapy re- cently, and two chapters approach different strategies of vaccine therapies; one...