[Pathologico-anatomic cancer diagnosis in the aged--principles and basic data]

The occurrence of various forms of cancer is generally more frequently observed in elderly persons. But this phenomenon is not correlated to or a consequence of the natural ageing process. In this study, observed frequencies of carcinogenesis within defined stages of the life cycle are presented. It was found that the dynamics of cancerogenesis is different with increasing age. The principle cancerogenetic effects are thought to occur ultimately at the genetic level in somatic cells. Therefore the specific compartmentalization of rapidly proliferating cells within individual tumors can be used as a criterion for diagnostics such as prognosis of tumor growth and correlation to the malignancy grading. In addition, it is emphasized that tumor diagnostics is particularly important for elderly persons in order to make the real value of early detection schemes accurate. The second part of the study concerns a catalogue of tumor localizations grouped for both sexes. For men this includes the respiratory tract, stomach, prostatic gland, large intestine, rectum, skin including melanomas, urinary bladder, erythropoietic system, and pancreas. For women the following localizations are listed: mammary gland, large intestine, stomach, ovaries, uterus, rectum, lung, skin including melanomas and gall bladder.