Cancer Treatment Research

In recent years the field of cancer treatment has been burgeoning with ever expanding interest and commitments to research and therapy. Besides the large number of specialty journals and publications devoted to cancer related fields, nearly every general medical journal contains one or more articles related to cancer treatment and research. Another example of this expanding commitment and interest is reflected in the Internal Medicine subspecialty of Medical Oncology which, since its recognition as a subspecialty in 1973, has become the second most populated subspecialty, second only to cardiology. This burgeoning interest and commitment is obviously appropriate in view of the prevalence and incidence of the various cancers. These diseases constitute, after all, some of the most important and devastating problems of civilized man. It has been particularly gratifying to those involved with cancer research and therapy to observe the increasing interest in these diseases being translated into real improvements in patient care - improvements in length of survival, improvements in quality of survival, and improvements in palliative care. One need only look at Hodgkin's disease to observe the high rate of cure now routinely obtained whereas, in the past, many patients' disease continued to progress with fatal consequences. Some of these improvements came about through better staging techniques, and other improvements, as will be discussed in the chapter on Hodgkin's, came about from the application of early chemotherapy. Further research in Hodgkin's disease is still going on in order to improve results and decrease treatment related complications.