HLA and Disease Associations

Abstract

This slim volume gives a fascinating account of the use of an abrasive balloon technique in China for the diagnosis of oesophageal carcinoma.The primary purpose was early cancer detection while the second objective was a study of the natural history of this disease.In China oesophageal carcinoma is the second commonest cause of cancer death, three times as common as lung cancer in men and four times as common as breast cancer in women.The book discusses aetiogical factors, predominantly dietary, describes the author's collection technique and illustrates with good photomicrographs the cytological and pathological appear- ances.The success of the method in early diagnosis and in the study of dysplasia is demonstrated.The author deals only with squamous cell carcinoma and does not cover lower oesophageal lesions.It is in these lesions, comparatively inaccessible to biopsy, and in malignant strictures for which the balloon technique is unsuitable, that cytology can be most valuable in Bri- tain.The book therefore has only limited relevance for the routine diagnostic cyto- pathologist, although it elegantly illustrates once more the potential of cytology as a screening technique.