Advanced Gastrointestinal Cancer.

The difference in meaning between the words "management" and "treatment" becomes apparent as one reads this book. It is based on a study at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn, of patients who had been proved to have inoperable or metastatic, and therefore incurable, gastrointestinal cancer. There was no treatment that would achieve cure by eradicating the disease. The disease, nevertheless, had to be managed. The patients needed relief of many symptoms, help with a variety of complications, and supportive care in a very broad sense. The initial chapters of the book discuss the clinical management of advanced gastrointestinal cancer and review those measures that can be helpful in dealing with the many problems that arise. There are discussions of pain relief, treatment of nausea and vomiting, and edema and ascites. There is a good discussion of general symptomatic and supportive management. The roles of palliative surgery and neurosurgery are