Fernando Cabanillas In 1993, Fisher et al. published the results of a randomized trial comparing three third-generation regimens against the classic CHOP combination. For several years, the oncology community had been convinced that the third generation regimens were clearly superior to CHOP. It came as a shock to many that there was no difference in outcome between the four arms of this clinical trial. The logical conclusion is that CHOP is as good as any of the other regimens tested in that study. Unfortunately, this excellent study has been misinterpreted by many as proving that there has...

Myelodysplastic syndromes are to the bone marrow what pneumonia is to the lungs; the response of an organ to a variety of etiologic insults like aging, toxic exposure, infections and auto-immunity. Among infectious causes alone, pneumonia could be the result of a variety of possible pathogens including bacterial, viral, tuberculous or fungal agents. Similarly, MDS cannot be treated as a single disease. Attempts to harness the inherent complexity of MDS by devising classifications' which group the various syndromes as one disease is as misguided as saying that a pneumonia is not infectious...

Liver-Directed Therapy for Primary and Metastatic Liver Tumors is a comprehensive examination of tumors of the liver. It provides a unique multi-modality approach to management of all types of primary and secondary liver tumors. The biology of liver cancers, state of the art radiologic imaging and novel, non-surgical interventional strategies are given. There is an in depth analysis of surgical options including transplantation, resection, interstitial ablation techniques and liver-directed chemotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma, bile duct cancers, and colorectal and...

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...

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...

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...

Where do you begin to look for a recent, authoritative article on the diagnosis or management of a particular malignancy? The few general on cology 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...

It has been recognized for many years that cancers originating in the breast and prostate gland are frequently 'endocrine-dependent. ' Traditional thera- pies included surgical endocrine ablative procedures or pharmacologic hor- mone administration, both designed to antagonize the stimulatory effects of sex steroid hormones. In the past decade, several new treatment strategies for these tumors have emerged from basic studies in reproductive biology and mechanisms of action of steroid hormones. In some instances, these new treatments have elimin- ated or reduced the need for major surgical...

This volume is the second in the 'Cancer Treatment and Research' series focussing on basic and clinical tumor immunology. It has a rather different focus or emphasis from that of the first volume, published two years ago. That work (Basic and Clinical Tumor Immunology, R.B. Herberman, ed., Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1983) devoted considerable attention to up- dated summaries in various areas of classical tumor immunology: specific antitumor immunity, the immunologic competence of cancer patietns, char- acterization of human tumor-associated antigens, the ability to propagate specifically...

This volume on enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL) and bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is the second in our series "Developments in Veterinary Virology." Each book in this series is devoted to a major virus disease of agricultural significance. The chapters in each volume are planned to supply information on a range of subjects from pathogenesis of the causative virus to vaccination, eradication, and rules regarding disease control. The present volume on enzootic bovine leukosis and bovine leukemia virus updates the reader on the disease and its causative agent and includes the nucleotide sequence of...