We often hear physicians, health care professionals, poli- ticians, and patient advocates that "nothing has happened in the treatment of breast cancer," since patients with breast cancer, the most frequent neoplastic condition in women in industrialized countries, are continuing to suffer relapse and succumb to this dreadful disease This negativistic attitude does not seem to be justified, but, why is the transmission of clinical trial results into general practice, and with it progress, such a slow process? After many decades of frustrating stagnation of long-term survival expectations, in...

H.-J. Senn Adjuvant Chemotherapy (ACT) of breast cancer has now emerged as one of the controversial su): >jects in clinical and also experimental oncology. Driven by growing frustration about stagnating cure rates in breast cancer 1,4] and stimulated by elegant demonstration of highly curative effects of adjuvant systemic therapy in animal models 6, 11] and in several childhood neoplasias 15], researchers introduced ACT to the primary treatment of breast cancer with great hope some 15 years ago. After a first wave of isolated "historic" trials with generally limited but in one case...

The symposium on supportive care in cancer patients, which took place in St. Gallen, Switzerland, on February 18-21, 1987, wel- comed renowned experts in the field and more than 600 partici- pants from 25 countries with the aim of stimulating discussion on how to improve our professional skills and personal attitudes to- ward cancer patients in all stages of their disease. Why did we or- ganize such a symposium on supportive care in cancer patients? Recent decades have witnessed remarkable success in cancer treat- ment, and we have learned how to cure a finite number of neoplas- tic diseases....

The ultimate "consumer" of the data presented at conferences on the primary treatment of operable breast cancer is the patient, and when, as in this disease, the benefits of therapy are relatively mod- est, the availability and interpretation of the data from trials be- comes an issue of primary importance. The effects of present treat- ment are in fact such that more patients relapse despite therapy than are estimated to benefit from it. It is, therefore, extremely dif- ficult for the physician to recommend unequivocally one particular adjuvant treatment modality for the vast population of...

This volume informs the reader about basic chemical and experimental aspects of the bisphosphonates, their application in neoplastic hypercalcemia, and the basic effects of these drugs in neoplastic osteolysis. Initial reports, which need confirmation by larger randomized studies, also deal with the long-term application and possibly favorable influence of bisphosphonates in metastatic bone disease. It is vital for medical oncologists and interested internists to keep abreast of recent information in this new area of clinical cancer research.

This volume represents an up-to-date survey of current (mainly clinical) research on the treatment of primary breast cancer, summarizing most of the expert lectures given at the 4th International Conference on Adjuvant Therapy of Primary Breast Cancer in February 1992 in St. Gallen, Switzerland. It covers relevant topics from biological mechanisms on cell kill and overcoming drug resistance to new aspects of breast conserving surgery and adjuvant endocrine as well as cytotoxic therapies; updating results of most important international trials on adjuvant therapy of breast cancer. Of...

This book is based on presentations by some of the world's leading experts at the Sixth International Conference on Clinical Cancer Prevention, held in St. Gallen, Switzerland, during March 2010. The main themes are the latest advances in the prevention of breast and prostate cancer and the role of infection in the development of liver and gastric cancer. Special emphasis is given to perspectives on the chemoprevention of breast cancer, as the conference included an international consensus meeting on this subject. New research findings are presented and potentially more effective cancer...

Hans-Jorg Senn H.-J. Senn ( ) Center for Tumor Detection and Prevention, Rorschacherstr. 150, CH-9006 St. Gallen, Switzerland Clinical oncology has centered mainly on developing new strategies and a multitude of new drugs for fighting relapsing and progressive cancer during the last two decades. Furthermore, it has done this with respectable success in quite a number of neoplastic diseases such as acute leukemias and sarcomas in pediatric patients and certain types of aggressive lymphomas, as well as se- lected solid tumors such as testicular cancer and choriocarcinoma in adult age....