Nononcologic disease in patients with cancer.

Nononcologic medical problems are common in patients with cancer. Failure to evaluate and treat these problems leads to considerable morbidity and mortality in people who often have potential for both comfortable and productive lives. While a physician is sometimes powerless to prevent the progression of underlying cancer, he must not allow a diagnostic category to color his approach. By seeing only an end point which is inevitable for all people, one could be inclined not to treat what is treatable. With clinical judgment, information and the eternal question of diagnosticians, "What else could this be?", a physician can focus not on the inevitability of death but on the quality of life.