[Oncologic surgery/pathologic-anatomic viewpoint]

Important progress achieved during the last years in four fields is reported: (1) Preoperative histological diagnosis: use of immunohistology, improvements by the 2nd edition of the WHO International Histological Classification of Tumors; (2) pathology of lymphatic spread: detailed classification according to topography and number of involved nodes, increased knowledge of factors influencing lymphatic spread and standardization of examination methods with statements on the number of examined and involved nodes; (3) publication and worldwide acceptance of the uniform 4th edition of the TNM Classification; and (4) introduction of the residual tumor (R) classification.