Special situations in oncology

Abstract

This chapter covers a range of special situations in oncology, from demographic age groups, lifestyle, and social and non-medical care to the practicalities of and resources for travelling and insurance. The median age of diagnosis of cancer in the general population is 70 years. The majority of those cancers are related to specific risk factors such as smoking. At the other end of the scale, the majority of paediatric malignancies are thought to be developmental in origin with teenager and young adult malignancies falling in between these two extremes and may represent a late developmental malignancy or an early adult malignancy due to other factors such as genetic and environmental factors. Topics covered in this chapter include teenage and young adult malignancies, cancer in older people, cancer in pregnant women, cancer of unknown primary site, fertility and cancer, late effects, cancer survivorship, travel, insurance, vaccination, lifestyle choices after cancer, complementary therapies, and supportive care during chemotherapy.