Diagnosis of cancer and early detection. Clinical methods

The etiology of cancer--as one of the most important causes of death--remains unknown. Therapy seems promising only in its early stages and if the exact diagnosis of carcinoma is possible. Diagnostic procedures today have gained a high standard demonstrated on malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract and the lung. The whole spectrum of methods can be employed only after having selected the patients according to "high risk" groups and methods of early cancer detection respectively. Effective and pragmatic progress has been made but is not fully utilized yet. Future trends in the diagnostic development are discussed.