[Skip to Navigation]
Sign In
Invited Commentary
March 2016

Familial Carcinoma of Unknown Primary

Author Affiliations
  • 1Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska
  • 2medical student at Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska
JAMA Oncol. 2016;2(3):346-347. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2015.4653

Approximately 3% to 5% of all human cancers manifest as carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP), which is the seventh most frequent histologically confirmed cancer and the fourth most common cancer-related cause of death in patients of both sexes.1 Currently, CUP evaluation involves standard metastatic workup in combination with immunohistochemical analysis and increasingly sophisticated pathological and genetic analysis. Treatment is targeted at the most likely primary source on the basis of this workup. However, empirical chemotherapy is often used.

Add or change institution
×