| Abstract: |
The Malay Peninsula, with its mixed population of Malays, Chinese and Indians, is a useful field in which to study the racial distribution of cancers, and in the past, the Institute for Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur has been advantageously situated in this respect. Up to 1964 it provided a central surgical pathology service for all the state hospitals outside Singapore and Johore Bahru, including ten large general hospitals with a total of 6600 beds. In 1958 Marsden published an analysis of the malignant tumours received in the Institute up to that time, but since then the surgical services of the country have expanded and the annual intake of specimens increased three-fold. As it was decided in 1964 to decentralise the pathology services, the time seemed appropriate for a final review. It should be explained that the Institute is not directly attached to any hospital, so that all the materials received come either by messenger or post, and sometimes from very remote regions. The information received is usually sketchy and as the follow-up of cases is difficult, subsequent histories are seldom obtained.
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