CAUSES OF DEATH OF PATIENTS WITH MALIGNAN T-TUMORS

In a large unselected postmortem collection (N=5463) of a general hosp ital, the incidence of malignant tumors was 48.6 %. The causes of deat h of these tumors were examined. In 78.2 % the tumors had caused the d eath directly or just indirectly. In 12.7 % a relationship between tum or growth and death was likely and just in 9.1 % of the cases the caus e of death was independent of the tumor growth. Most frequently correl ated to the causes of death were carcinoma of the bile ducts and Vater 's papilla, ovarian cancers, pancreatic cancers, gallbladder cancers, and malignant melanoma. Most often irrelevant for the cause of death w ere renal cancer, uterine cervix cancer, prostatic cancer, urinary bla dder cancer, and breast cancer.