Basic and Clinical Concepts of Lung Cancer

The last volume dealing with lung cancer in this series in Cancer Treatment and Research was published in 1986 and entitled Lung Cancer: Basic and Clinical Aspects. The present book continues the outline of the previous volume by presenting up-to-date information on lung cancer in critical reviews of new important basic and clinical concepts of lung cancer. The present volume has broadened the scope by also including chapters dealing with issues such as epidemiology, prophylaxis, and histopathology of lung cancer. The content of the book thus reflects the increasing awareness of a global disease that is more and more in focus, not only scientifically but also politically. The latter fact results increasingly in changes in health legisla­ tion, with prevention measures influencing everyday life. The great interest in the disease is natural, considering that more than one patient dies from lung cancer every minute globally. The first chapter is from the Cancer Unit, WHO, Geneva, and describes in detail the epidemiologic features of lung cancer, which is the second most frequent cancer in the world with 660,500 new cases annually; it will soon surpass stomach cancer as the leader. Thirty-one percent of the cases occur in developing countries, where the increase is especially dramatic.