Cancer clusters

["Gibbs, S Julian" <s.julian.gibbs@vanderbilt.edu>]

The frequency of cancer cases, as all random events, obeys Poisson 

statistics.  This not only allows, but it predicts, that clusters 

will occur.  For example, let us say that the mean annual number of 

new cancer cases in a village of a certain size is 10.  The Poisson 

equation then shows that approximately one such village in 500 will 

have 20 or more new cases per year.  Not at all unreasonable!

It is necessary to determine the probability of existence of a 

cancer cluster from random statistics before searching for a 

specific cause.



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S. Julian Gibbs, DDS, PhD               Voice: 615-322-1477

Professor, Emeritus

Dept. of Radiology & Radiological Sciences

Vanderbilt University Medical Center     Home: 615-356-3615

209 Oxford House        Email:s.julian.gibbs@vanderbilt.edu

Nashville TN 37232-4245     or alias:j.gibbs@vanderbilt.edu

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