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Management of the Patients with Carcinoma of Unknown Primary and the Role of Biomarkers

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Biomarkers in Carcinoma of Unknown Primary

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Abstract

Determining the primary tumor is very important in the selection of therapeutic strategies in malignancy. Although advancing technology and imaging methods are often useful in detecting primary cancer, still 5% of cancers are classified as the cancer of unknown primary. Many studies report that cancers initially considered as cancer of unknown primary are lung, pancreas, and hepatobiliary region adenocarcinomas. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and neuroendocrine carcinoma can also be initially detected as cancer of unknown primary. The most common areas—organs of metastases—are the liver, abdomen, thorax, bones, and neck. Inability to detect primary tumor clinically, unpredictable metastatic spread, and aggressive tumor biology constitute the general clinic of cancer patients of unknown primary. Empirical chemotherapy regimens have been developed for the cancer of unknown primary, and a broad-spectrum chemotherapy regimen partially benefited, but today’s medicine that allows personalized treatments requires a definitive, pathological, and even molecular diagnosis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey

    Cihan Ağalar

  2. Department of Respiratory Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey

    Gokcen Omeroglu Simsek

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  1. Cihan Ağalar
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Correspondence to Cihan Ağalar .

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  1. Department of Molecular Pathology, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylul University, İzmir, Turkey

    Sulen Sarioglu

  2. Department of Molecular Pathology, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylul University, İzmir, Turkey

    Ozgul Sagol

  3. Department of Molecular Pathology, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Dokuz Eylul University, İzmir, Turkey

    Anil Aysal

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Ağalar, C., Simsek, G.O. (2022). Management of the Patients with Carcinoma of Unknown Primary and the Role of Biomarkers. In: Sarioglu, S., Sagol, O., Aysal, A. (eds) Biomarkers in Carcinoma of Unknown Primary. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84432-5_14

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