The previous volume of this series on soft tissue sarcomas highlighted the importance of the multidisciplinary approach to treatment, the focus of which is continued in the present edition. Proper diagnosis and staging remain the cornerstone of the treatment strategy. Sophisticated histopathology techniques and growing consensus on grading systems have further increased the importance of the histopathologist in providing estimates of the prognosis of the patient as well as providing data for the planning of treatment strategy. The use of cytogenetics is relatively new in this field. This might enable the distinction of subgroups in specific histological tumor types. Furthermore, molecular biological studies not only help to reveal inherited predispositions and details in oncogenesis in tumor development, but they may also provide additional predictive factors for tumor behavior. Further data on treatment strategy will be provided by diagnostic imaging, a field in which the role of magnetic resonance imaging is rapidly developing. As far as actual treatment is concerned, surgery still provides the major chance for cure. In view of the endeavor to be as sparing as possible, the addition of radiotherapy to surgery is of utmost importance. Usually radiotherapy is given after surgery, but the optimal sequence of the two modalities still needs to be defined. The combined use of surgery with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy does have an impact on wound healing.

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 The few general oncology textbooks are generally out of date.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 in-depth reviews of cancer topics, and published symposium lectures are often the best overviews available. Unfor tunately, these reviews and supplements appear sporadically, and the reader can never be sure when a topic of special interest will be covered. Cancer Treatment and Research is a series of authoritative volumes that aim to meet this need. It is an attempt to establish a critical mass of oncology literature covering virtually all oncology topics, which is revised frequently to keep the coverage up to date, and which is easily available on a single library shelf or by a single personal subscription. We have approached the problem in the following fashion: first, by dividing the oncology literature into specific subdivisions, such as lung can cer, genitourinary cancer, pediatric oncology, etc.; and second, by asking eminent authorities in each of these areas to edit a volume on the specific topic on an annual or biannual basis. Each topic and tumor type is covered in a volume appearing frequently and predictably, discussing current diag nosis, staging, markers, all forms of treatment modalities, basic biology, and more."

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 the distinction of subgroups in specific histological tumor types. Furthermore, molecular biological studies not only help reveal inherited predispositions and details in tumor oncogenesis, but they may also provide additional predictive factors for tumor behavior. Further data on treatment strategy will be provided by diag nostic imaging, and in this volume the value of PET imaging, a relatively new achievement, is highlighted. As far as the actual treatment is concerned, surgery still provides the major opportunity for cure. The addition of radiotherapy to surgery is of utmost importance in efforts to spare as much tissue as possible. The chapters on the planning of radiotherapy, brachytherapy, and the treatment of benign soft tissue lesions using radiotherapy are new contributions to this book. One of the potential late problems of radiotherapy is the occurrence of secondary soft tissue sarcomas, which is discussed in Chapter 10."

The purpose of this book is to contribute to the further development of the multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas. A proper diagnosis and staging remains the cornerstone of the treatment strategy. Sophisticated histopathology techniques and growing consensus on grading systems have further increased the importance of the histopathologist in providing estimates of the prognosis of the patient as well as providing data for the planning of treatment strategy. The use of cytogenetics is relatively new in this field. This might enable distinction of subgroups in specific histological tumor types. Further to this, molecular biological studies not only help to reveal inherited predispositions and details in oncogenesis in tumor development, but they may also provide additional predictive factors for tumor behaviour. Further data for the treament strategy will be provided by diagnostic imaging, in which field the role of magnetic resonance imaging is rapidly developing. As far as actual treatment is concerned, surgery still provides the major chance for cure.In view of the endeavour to be as sparing as possible, the addition of radiotherapy to surgery is of utmost importance. Usually radiotherapy is given after surgery, but the optimal sequence of the two modalities yet needs to be defined. The combined use of surgery with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy does have an impact on wound healing. A review on recent data concerning wound healing in these situations has thus been added. There appears to be growing consensus about the role of chemotherapy in metastatic disease, where only doxorubicin, ifosfamide and DTIC are known to be active. Although it may be different for subsets, in general, single-agent chemotherapy appears to be as effecive as standard doses of combination chemotherapy. The lack of efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy with standard doses of the drugs presently available has been shown. Just as for radiotherapy, chemotherapy may have an important role in the preoperative treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcomas, where intravenous drug administration appears to be as effective as the more complicated intraarterial administration.Thermochemotherapy, another and still investigational approach to advanced local disease, also yields interesting preliminary results. Finally, clinical behaviour, treatment strategy and the outcome of treatment in childhood soft tissue sarcomas are quite different from those in adult soft tissue sarcomas.

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 the distinction of subgroups in specific histological tumor types. Furthermore, molecular biological studies not only help reveal inherited predispositions and details in tumor oncogenesis, but they may also provide additional predictive factors for tumor behavior. Further data on treatment strategy will be provided by diag nostic imaging, and in this volume the value of PET imaging, a relatively new achievement, is highlighted. As far as the actual treatment is concerned, surgery still provides the major opportunity for cure. The addition of radiotherapy to surgery is of utmost importance in efforts to spare as much tissue as possible. The chapters on the planning of radiotherapy, brachytherapy, and the treatment of benign soft tissue lesions using radiotherapy are new contributions to this book. One of the potential late problems of radiotherapy is the occurrence of secondary soft tissue sarcomas, which is discussed in Chapter 10.

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 in-depth reviews of cancer topics, and published symposium lectures are often the best overviews available. Unfor tunately, these reviews and supplements appear sporadically, and the reader can never be sure when a topic of special interest will be covered. Cancer Treatment and Research is a series of authoritative volumes that aim to meet this need. It is an attempt to establish a critical mass of oncology literature covering virtually all oncology topics, which is revised frequently to keep the coverage up to date, and which is easily available on a single library shelf or by a single personal subscription. We have approached the problem in the following fashion: first, by dividing the oncology literature into specific subdivisions, such as lung can cer, genitourinary cancer, pediatric oncology, etc.; and second, by asking eminent authorities in each of these areas to edit a volume on the specific topic on an annual or biannual basis. Each topic and tumor type is covered in a volume appearing frequently and predictably, discussing current diag nosis, staging, markers, all forms of treatment modalities, basic biology, and more."