title: Stepwise progress in the treatment of disseminated cancers.
abstract: Remarkable progress has been made in curing a significant number of disseminated cancers, but at times the pace has seemed discouragingly slow. When I look back at both the successes and failures, and relate them to current concepts, I cannot help but wonder if the rate of future progress might be accelerated by application of basic tenets of the 40-year-old somatic mutation theory. By this I mean serious consideration of the implications of this theory in interpretation of available data and in the design of future therapeutic regimens.
mesh_terms: D004351:Drug Resistance; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006801:Humans; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*