Abstract
Cancer is a chronic disease the development of which passes through different stages and may take several decades. One of the main shortcomings in the clinical management of cancer is that the disease usually does not lead to early symptoms or complaints which would stimulate the patient to ask for medical care. Thus, cancer is often only diagnosed in advanced stages for which curative therapy is not available. Since most cancers emerge slowly their diagnosis at early stages should in principle be possible and provide the basis for more effective therapy. Consequently, early detection has been recognized as a major challenge in the fight against cancer and has been introduced in the health care programs of many countries.
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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Bannasch, P., van Kaick, G. (1992). What does “Early” Stand for in Cancer Diagnosis?. In: Bannasch, P. (eds) Cancer Diagnosis. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76899-6_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76899-6_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-54503-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-76899-6
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