Management of malignant disease

Published on 10/04/2015 by admin

Filed under Surgery

Last modified 10/04/2015

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CHAPTER 7 Management of malignant disease

Patients with malignant disease form a major part of the workload of a surgical unit. They are assessed and decisions on management are made as part of a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, oncologists, specialist radiologists and pathologists, nurses, dieticians, etc. The total number of patients with malignant disease is rising owing to increased life expectancy. Where possible, the aims should be to prevent malignancy, e.g. cessation of smoking in the prevention of lung cancer, and the avoidance of excessive ultraviolet light in the prevention of skin cancer. Screening programmes should be instituted to make earlier diagnoses of the common forms of cancer and hopefully maximize the cure rate.

General symptoms and signs of malignant disease

They may be broadly classified as follows:

Primary tumour

Diagnostic procedures

Staging and grading of cancer

Clinical staging

An example of this is the Manchester Classification of carcinoma of the breast (→ Ch. 10). This is based purely on clinical findings but is somewhat imprecise.

The multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting

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