Renato Lenzi, MD, FACP

Unknown primary carcinomas are a significant health problem, constituting 3% to 10% of all tumors diagnosed in the United States each year [1,2]. While the majority of patients with metastatic carcinoma of unknown primary origin have short survival times and disease resistant to treatment, recent findings suggest that certain subsets of patients have tumors that are responsive to chemotherapy. Others can be successfully treated with regional therapy.

Written by Jimmie C. Holland, MD, and Sheldon Lewis, this book focuses on the "human effects" as opposed to the

The article by Drs. Hainsworth and Greco is a timely review of the management of patients presenting with metastatic cancer in the absence of a documented site of origin (cancer of unknown primary site). These patients constitute a significant proportion (approximately 5%) of all patients with cancer.

Because most patients now want to know the truth about their diagnosis and prognosis, the ability to discuss the cancer diagnosis, disease recurrence, or treatment failure, and to solicit patients’ views about resuscitation