ABSTRACT
Cancer of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is a major health problem worldwide. Colorectal cancer is the second most common malignancy in men and women in the European Union (EU). The overall incidence of gastrointestinal tract tumours in the EU in 1990 was 68.5 per 100 000 population in men, and 38.3 per 100 000 in women. Mortality rates in that year were 51.1 per 100 000 men, and 26.9 per 100 000 women, reflecting the fact that between two-thirds and three-quarters of patients diagnosed with GIT gastrointestinal tract malignancy ultimately die as a result of their disease, a number exceeding 250 000 patients per year in the EU.1
