Neuro-Oncology: An Overview

Abstract

Good morning. My name is Jerome Posner and I am from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. It is a signal honor to be invited by the Netherlands Societies of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Radiotherapy to give the opening remarks to this Conference on Neuro-Oncology. I am particularly pleased that the societies have selected neuro-oncology as a topic because it gives recognition to a field that has come of age and indicates that neurologists, neurosurgeons and radiotherapists should develop and expand their interests in the area. For purposes of my discussion this morning, by neuro-oncology I mean an area of study which deals with: 1) the diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from primary CNS neoplasms (brain and spinal cord tumors); 2) neurological complications of systemic cancer (cancer which arises outside the nervous system and affects the nervous system secondarily), and 3) pain associated with cancer. New developments in the neurophysiology and neuropharmacology of pain make it particularly important for neurologically trained physicians with a sophisticated knowledge of neurophysiology and neuropharmacology to participate in the diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from pain related to cancer.