Virginia Rhodes, MD

Although investigators knew before 1980 that retroviruses could cause various forms of leukemia, lymphoma, and solid tumors in animals, not until then was the first human oncogenic retrovirus, human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus-I (HTLV-I), isolated [1].

An oncologic emergency may be defined as any acute potentially morbid or life-threatening event directly or indirectly related to a patient's tumor or its treatment. The differential diagnosis for a patient with cancer who presents with acute conditions includes medical emergencies not related to the patient's diagnosis of cancer.