Description

Local treatment cures about 30 to 40% of cancers, this proportion depending on the follow-up required to establish it. This means that 60 to 70% of the malignant neoplasias are disseminated either perceptibly (leukemias, visible metas- tases) or imperceptibly, forming a 'minimal imperceptible disease', which local treatment leaves, whether it consists of surgery, radiotherapy, or surgery plus radiotherapy. When the neoplastic tissue is voluminous enough to be per- ceptible, cures can be obtained with chemotherapy or chemo- immunotherapy. When the neoplastic disease is imperceptible, made up of micrometastases, it apparently can be cured by systemic postsurgical chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or chemoimmunotherapy. Hence there is the need for intensive development of these medical therapies which are applied by the medical oncol- ogist and, at present, consist of chemotherapy, immuno- therapy, or chemoimmunotherapy. These medical thera- peutics can only grow with scientific development, the main weapon of which is experimental and clinical pharmacology. These volumes report the communications presented at the 1979 EORTC Annual Plenary Session on Cancer Chemo- and Immunopharmacology.