Ebook: Breast Cancer: Textbook for General Practitioners

The "Europe against Cancer" programme has, from its inception, emphasised the key role which general practitioners must play in the actions necessary to achieve its aim of reduc­ ing the incidence and the mortality from cancer in the European Community. General practitioners, because of their day-to-day direct and continuing contact with patients, playa role not only in primary prevention and education of patients, but also in motivating their patients to accept secondary prevention and screening, some of it carried out by general practitioners themselves. These preventive activities are in addition to their traditional role in the care and management of patients with cancer at home, and increas­ ingly, their role in active treatment. In view of the importance of the general practitioner in the "Europe against Cancer" pro­ gramme, the European Commission, with a view to providing general practitioners with up-tO-date useful information, has sponsored the production of this series of publications on organ based cancers, especially written for general practitioners. MICHEL RICHONNIER Coordinator of the" Europe against Cancer" programme, Commission ofthe European Communities, Brussels Preface The present textbook is the second in the series published by the Commission of the Euro­ pean Communities within the context of the "Europe Against Cancer" Programme. After lung cancer, it was felt that priority should be given to breast cancer, the most frequent neoplastic disease among European women.

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The European Commission Series for General Practitioners traces its beginnings to the Europe Against Cancer Programme. The books in the series cover major cancer diseases in writing designed specifically for general practitioners in the European Community countries. The texts are prepared and edited by the European School of Oncology (ESO) for the Commission of the European Communities. Each book will be published in each of the official languages of the European Community.The books all follow the same basic design. The first part, which can be read in as little as fifteen minutes, summarizes various aspects under relevant questions. The second part focuses on practical problems as they appear to the general practitioner in day-by-day practice. Selected references to recent textbooks and monographs complete the brief discussion and point the interested individual to further reading. Breast cancer is the most frequent neoplastic disease among European women. The importance of the general practitioner's role, especially in the early diagnosis of breast cancer, is underscored in this second volume of the EC Series for General Practitioners.