There are more than 63,000 new cases of uterine and endometrial cancer each year in the United States, up from approximately 41,000 when the first edition of Uterine Cancer was published in 2009. A book focusing on these cancers was timely, with emergent sophistication in diagnosis increasingly impacting clinical decision-making. However, five years later, the need for an updated book on this topic is even stronger as oncologists recognize opportunities to impact the outcome on women that are increasingly diagnosed with these malignancies. Uterine Cancer: Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment, Second Edition, part of the Current Clinical Oncology series, enhances the awareness on this somewhat neglected area of therapeutics, helping to integrate targeted therapies into the management of women with uterine cancer. Written by experts in the field in a highly practical and comprehensive manner, it is a must-have for all gynecological residents and fellows, as well as gynecological oncologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and family practice doctors who wish to provide their patients with the best possible care.

Cisplatin, the first member of the family of platinum-containing chemotherapeutic agents, was discovered by Barnett Rosenberg in 1965 and approved by the FDA for marketing in 1978. After 30 years of use in the clinic, cisplatin remains a central element of many treatment regimens. Cisplatin is still an irreplaceable component of a regimen that produces high cure rates in even advanced nonseminomatous germ-cell cancers, and is widely used in the treatment of ovarian cancers and other gynecologic cancers, head and neck, and numerous other tumor types. The development of carboplatin has reduced some of the adverse events associated with cisplatin treatment, and the introduction of the DACH platinum compound oxaliplatin has broadened the spectrum of activity of the platinums to include gastro-intestinal cancers, especially colorectal cancer. The clinical importance of this family of drugs continues to drive investigation into how these drugs work and how to improve their efficacy and reduce their toxicity. The papers in this volume were presented in Verona, Italy, during the tenth International Symposium on Platinum Coordination Compounds in Cancer Chemotherapy. The symposium was jointly organized by the Department of Oncology of the Mater Salutis Hospital - Azienda Sanitaria Locale 21 of the Veneto Region - and by the Department of Medicine and Public Health, Section of Pharmacology, the University of Verona. They reflect the vitality of this field and the increasing use of new molecular and cell biologic, genetic, and biochemical tools to identify approaches to further improve their use.

There are more than 63,000 new cases of uterine and endometrial cancer each year in the United States, up from approximately 41,000 when the first edition of Uterine Cancer was published in 2009. A book focusing on these cancers was timely, with emergent sophistication in diagnosis increasingly impacting clinical decision-making. However, five years later, the need for an updated book on this topic is even stronger as oncologists recognize opportunities to impact the outcome on women that are increasingly diagnosed with these malignancies. Uterine Cancer: Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment, Second Edition, part of the Current Clinical Oncology series, enhances the awareness on this somewhat neglected area of therapeutics, helping to integrate targeted therapies into the management of women with uterine cancer. Written by experts in the field in a highly practical and comprehensive manner, it is a must-have for all gynecological residents and fellows, as well as gynecological oncologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and family practice doctors who wish to provide their patients with the best possible care.

For the Editors, the task of writing a Preface is most satisfying. It represents the completion of the book and a moment of reflection on whether the whole is more than the sum of all the parts. And also, one must reflect on how this book is likely to be utilized in this era of rapid communications. The Editors first met in May 2003 at a stimulating Italian symposium on endometrial cancer (organizers Drs. Luigi Frigerio, Roberto Grassi and Andrea Lissoni, with participation of the deans of Italian Gynecologic Oncology, Ugo Bianchi and Constantino Mangioni) that took place at Bergamo and Caravaggio. The impressive gains in biology and clinical trials were further discussed by the two editors and others that are co-authors in this venture on this side of the Atlantic at a 2004 Educational Session at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The pace of progress in various aspects of management of uterine cancer was no- worthy, not only was tumor biology fueling novel hypotheses such as questioning the mesenchymal origin of carcinosarcomas, but knowledge of molecular pathways was beginning to be applied as prognostic and as predictive factors portending benefit from systemic therapies. Surgical staging and sensitive imaging provided the underpinning for refining our treatment algorithms. Finally, a role for che- therapy had finally become established, principally through phase III studies c- paring chemotherapy to radiation in mostly locally advanced stages III and IV that had undergone resection.