Spontaneous remission of cancer: Epidemiological and psychosozial aspects

Oncologists have been reluctant a long time to accept the existence of spon taneous remissions in cancer disease. The considerable number of patients w hose cancer-disease has regressed without (adequate) treatment should have allayed these doubts. Such remissions could serve as a kind of natural expe riments that may lead to greater insights in the biology of tumours and to more efficient therapeutic strategies. In the moment the discussion deals w ith the explanation of spontaneous remissions by the existing biological or psychosomatic theories. Whereas the fact of spontaneous remissions was denied on the one hand some people claim the occurrence of such remissions for themselves without justi fication. In order to obtain an epidemiological register of these cases it would be necessary to document all patients in question in a standardised m anner. Such a set of data should include psychosocial variable as well sinc e the psychosomatic approach seems to be even more in danger of speculation s that resemble closely the causal attributions of the patients.