The Organization of Cancer Treatment

Abstract

Before the various possibilities for the treatment of cancer available in highly specialized cancer centers or general hospitals are considered, an attempt should be made to define the qualities requisite in cancer specialists deciding on the plan of treatment and the conditions needed for satisfactory treatment of cancer patients. To begin with, a cancer specialist should be able to take part in the devising of a plan of treatment that combines the various forms of therapy available to a varying extent but in a way suited to each patient. For a constantly increasing number of cancers and because of the growing multiplicity of technical possibilities, a single individual can no longer command the extremely wide range of knowledge required, either clinical and biological on the one hand or technical on the other; to do so he would have to be at one and the same time a physician, a surgeon, a radiologist, a pathologist, etc. Since this is impossible for one person, the knowledge must be provided by a team containing representatives of the various specialties mentioned.