Carcinoma of unknown primary site

Preview

When faced with a patient with metastatic disease from an unknown primary source, the clinician may be tempted to go to great lengths to uncover the site of origination, at great cost in terms of time and discomfort as well as money. Drs Kelley and Meyer state that the patient's most important ally is a physician whose strategy centers around looking at the primary sites that are specifically treatable or curable. Further, they point out that a “shotgun” approach is excessive in most cases and will not appreciably affect the outcome. They suggest, instead, an approach that emphasizes a minimum number of diagnostic procedures and maximum time out of the hospital.