diagnosis

Cancer remains a major cause of mortality worldwide. In 2006 in Europe there were an estimated 3.2 million cancer cases diagnosed (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers) and 1.7 million deaths from cancer (Ferlay et al., 2007). According to the World Health Organization (www.who.int), from a total of 58 million deaths worldwide in 2005, cancer accounts for 7.6 million (or 13 %) of all deaths.