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...

Andrew Arnold The past several years have been a time of intense excitement and have brought major advances in the understanding and treatment of endocrine neoplasms. This is therefore an excellent point at which to undertake a broad- based overview of the state of the art in endocrine neoplasia for the Cancer Treatment and Research series. Because of the wide and interdisciplinary readership of this series, our aim for each chapter has been to provide ample background for those not highly familiar with the topic, while emphasizing the most recent advances. Furthermore, the chapters have been...

- National Cancer Institure Budget is encouraging research in order to develop a better understanding of metastasis of cancer to the bone

- Provides the reader with comprehensive reviews written by well known experts on related topics

Over the last several decades, the introduction of new chemotherapeutic drugs and drug combinations has resulted in increased long- term remission rates in several important tumor types. These include childhood leukemia, adult leukemias and lymphomas, as well as testicular and trophoblastic tumors. The addition of high-dose chemotherapy with growth factor and hemopoietic stem cell support has increased clinical remission rates even further. For the majority of patients with some of the more common malignancies, however, palliation (rather than cure) is still the most realistic goal of...

Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is known to be associated with an increased risk of neoplastic disorders, especially Kaposi's sarcoma and aggressive B-cell lymphoma for the former, and T-cell lymphoma for the latter. The information obtained from the study of these infections has led to remarkable advances in our understanding of the immune system, as well as the biology of human neoplasms. The management of malignant diseases in such patients also poses substantial challenges to clinicians. This book provides...

Over the last 50 years, drug development and clinical trials have resulted in successful complete responses in diseases such as childhood leukemia, testicular cancer and Hodgkin's disease. We are still, however, confronted with over 500,000 cancer-related deaths per year. Clearly, the phenomenon of drug resistance is largely responsible for these failures and continues to be an area of active investigation.
Since the last volume in this series, we have learned that the energy-dependent drug efflux protein, p-glycoprotein, encoded by the MDR 1 gene, is a member of a family of...

Recent advances in radiation oncology have depended upon and are intertwined with subsequent scientific discoveries and the development of new techniques in the fields of radiation and molecular biology, physics, electrical engineering, surgery, and medical oncology.
This volume describes how some of the recent discoveries in the radiological sciences have influenced the way radiation oncology is practised. As there are many advances in this field, the Editors have chosen to concentrate on selected topics in clinical radiotherapy, radiation physics and biology, and technical innovations...

Among the standard oncology modalities, surgical oncology is singular in that it lacks a separate board certification or even an added qualification mecha- nism. 'Card-carrying' surgical oncologists are certified by the American Board of Surgery, as are all other general surgeons. What distinguishes the surgical oncologist is a set of cognitive skills rather than a specific armamentarium of surgical techniques. This different conceptual framework is derived from ex- tensive additional training that leads to an in-depth understanding of the natural history and biologic behavior of the various...

Where do you begin to look for a recent, authoritative article on the diagnosis 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 indepth reviews of cancer topics, and published symposium lectures are often the best overviews available. Un fortunately, these reviews and supplements appear sporadically, and the reader can never be sure...