The following 3 points are important clinical problems to be resolved in the management of
cancer: 1. Are there any useful procedures in the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of recurrence or
metastasis of
cancer? 2. Can the recurrence or
metastasis of
cancer be predicted? 3. Are there any parameters which reflect the degree or grade of
malignancy of
cancer? For the diagnosis of recurrence or
metastasis,
tumor markers and imaging MRI are useful, especially for
colorectal cancer. Radical extended resection can lead to good survival even though the
tumor recurs. A randomized prospective study of 1011 gastrectomized
cancer patients treated with oral
OK432 showed significantly good results, especially in n(+) cases with curative resection. Prognostic stratification and risk assessment by computer analysis using Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) showed that cancerous invasion of subserosal veins (Vd) was the most important risk factor for liver
metastasis of
colorectal cancer. In predicting the recurrence or
metastasis of
cancer computer analysis by AIC appears to be a useful procedure.
DNA ploidy patterns demonstrated by flow cytometry and oncogene analysis of
tumor tissue have been reported and discussed as possible indices of the grade of
malignancy.