自1869年Billroth首先发表第一例多原发癌以来,各国学者对本病的报道日见增多。当时Billroth对多原发癌的诊断提出三点标准:(1)各肿瘤应有明确的不同病理类型;(2)各肿瘤必须在不同部位发生;(3)各肿瘤有其各自的转移途径。以后Warren和Gates(1932)引证Billroth的观点,认为诊断本病还必须排除转移性病变。总之:多原发癌是指同一病人在不同部位、不同时间罹患不同病理类型的恶性肿瘤。据Brownson等(1973)报告在肿瘤患者尸检中发现多原发癌之发生率在1～11％,平均为5％,但也有高达48～89％的报道(Moertel等和Hadju等)。一般患二个癌瘤较多见,同一患者先后发生三个以上的原发癌者甚少。多原发癌的发病率虽然不高,但间隔期较短的多原发癌则具有重要的临床意 Since Billroth first published the first case of multiple primary cancers in 1869, scholars from various countries have increasingly reported on this disease. At that time, Billroth proposed three criteria for the diagnosis of multiple primary cancers: (1) each tumor should have distinct pathological types; (2) each tumor must occur at a different site; (3) each tumor has its own route of metastasis. Later Warren and Gates (1932) quoted Billroth’s point of view that the diagnosis of the disease must also exclude metastatic lesions. In short: multiple primary cancers refer to the same patient who has different pathological types of malignancy at different sites and at different times. According to the report of Brownson et al. (1973), the incidence of multiple primary cancers in necropsy of tumor patients was between 1 and 11%, with an average of 5%, but there were also reports up to 48-89% (Moertel et al. and Hadju et al.). It is more common to have two cancers, and there are fewer than three primary cancers in the same patient. Although the incidence of multiple primary cancers is not high, short-term multiple primary cancers have important clinical implications.