This section will be confined to a brief discussion of accepted therapies for cancer of several fairly common sites and the implications of these treatments in terms of nursing care for post-hospitalized patients. The hospital care will be omitted since fairly complete information is obtainable in medical-surgical nursing texts. Differences in treatment protocols, preferences of the patient's physician, local practices, and the needs of each individual patient always necessitate modification of any program of nursing care which is outlined.

As previously stated, the surgery which must be performed for malignant conditions is more radical in nature than that needed for benign lesions. This often results in extensive excisions of tissue and it is perhaps the necessity for surgery of this radical nature which causes anxiety and creates the emotional overtones so commonly associated with a diagnosis of cancer. The significance of specific anatomical sites and the importance attached to them as well as to various surgical procedures differs from one patient to another and this sometimes makes it difficult to assess another's feelings and to offer constructive help in the rehabilitation process.

The posthospitalized care of the patient is greatly expedited when the public health nurse who will care for the patient at home is familiar with the hospital plan of care. A continuing plan for care and rehabilitation can best be built on the experiences the patient has already had. This requires good communication among all the people concerned-the physician, the nurses in the hospital, and those who will be providing nursing care in the home environment. The extent to which the public health nurse will be called upon to assist in the postoperative care and rehabilitation of the cancer patient will probably depend upon the type of procedure performed, the timing of the hospital discharge, the plan of care recommended, and the condition of the patient.