The adolescent and young adult with cancer: state of the art--epithelial cancer.

The adolescent and young adult (AYA) is defined as a patient of 15 to 39 years of age at initial cancer diagnosis, and this group has particular medical needs and age-related issues. Excluding violent deaths, cancer is the leading cause of death among the AYA population. Lymphomas, melanoma, testicular cancer, female genital tract malignancies, thyroid cancer, bone and soft tissue sarcomas, leukemias, central nervous system tumors, breast cancer, and nongonadal germ cell tumors account for 95 % of the cancers in this group. Among those, the epithelial cancer of AYA comprehends the minimum amount and its incidence rates tend to increase with age. This review presents information about epidemiology, biologic peculiarities, as well as standard treatment strategies for epithelial cancers in AYA.