For the Editors, the task of writing a Preface is most satisfying. It represents the completion of the book and a moment of reflection on whether the whole is more than the sum of all the parts. And also, one must reflect on how this book is likely to be utilized in this era of rapid communications. The Editors first met in May 2003 at a stimulating Italian symposium on endometrial cancer (organizers Drs. Luigi Frigerio, Roberto Grassi and Andrea Lissoni, with participation of the deans of Italian Gynecologic Oncology, Ugo Bianchi and Constantino Mangioni) that took place at Bergamo and Caravaggio. The impressive gains in biology and clinical trials were further discussed by the two editors and others that are co-authors in this venture on this side of the Atlantic at a 2004 Educational Session at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The pace of progress in various aspects of management of uterine cancer was no- worthy, not only was tumor biology fueling novel hypotheses such as questioning the mesenchymal origin of carcinosarcomas, but knowledge of molecular pathways was beginning to be applied as prognostic and as predictive factors portending benefit from systemic therapies. Surgical staging and sensitive imaging provided the underpinning for refining our treatment algorithms. Finally, a role for che- therapy had finally become established, principally through phase III studies c- paring chemotherapy to radiation in mostly locally advanced stages III and IV that had undergone resection.

1. The Essential Epidemiology of Cancer of the Endometrium (Celeste Leigh Pearce, Karine Chung, Anna H. Wu, and Malcolm C. Pike) 2. Endometrial Cancer: Screening, Diagnosis, and Surgical Staging (Annekathryn Goodman and Barbara Goff) 3. Imaging in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Endometrial Cancer (Mansi Saksena and Susanna I Lee) 4. Uterine Cancer: Pathology (Robert A. Soslow and Esther Oliva) Endometrial carcinoma and precursor lesions Sarcoma and mixed mullerian tumors 5. Molecular pathology and cytogenetics of endometrial carcinoma, carcinosarcoma and uterine sarcomas (Jose Palacios Calvo and Paola Dal Cin) Endometrial carcinoma and carcinosarcoma Sarcoma 6. Prognostic Factors in Uterine Cancer (Patricia Baker and Esther Oliva) 7. Primary Hormonal Therapy of Endometrial Cancer (Linda Duska) 8. Early Stage Endometrial Cancer: Surgery (Yukio Sonoda and Richard R. Barakat) 9. Early Stage Endometrial Cancer: Radiation (Lea Baer, A. Gabriella Wernicke, and Silvia Formenti) 10. Early-presenting uterine papillary serous carcinomas, carcinosarcomas, clear-cell and mixed histology carcinomas: combined chemotherapy and radiation (Nicholas P. Taylor and Matthew A. Powell) 11. Endocrine Therapy of Advanced and Recurrent Cancers (Franco Muggia and Stephanie Blank) 12. Chemotherapy of Advanced and Recurrent Cancers (Halla Nimeiri and Gini Fleming) 13. Treatment for advanced and recurrent carcinoma: Combined modalities (Marcela G. del Carmen & Neil S. Horowitz) 14. Combined Treatment of Uterine Sarcomas (Martee Hensley and Carolyn Krasner) 15. Future directions: new targets (Franco Muggia, Leslie I Gold, and John Curtin)