What is the difference between frank cancer and overt cancer?
Is there any difference when I want to describe a cancer is obvious and can be diagnosed by a doctor?
Original sentences in the article published in Nature Medicine:
It is not known how many of these would eventually have become frank malignant tumors. This finding was first documented in the prostate by Arnold Rich in 1935 (ref. 4) (the recently reprinted paper can be found in ref. 5).
On the basis of these and related findings, it is evident that at least indolent or occult tumors occur much more frequently than is commonly recognized but are restrained from progressing into overt cancer by processes as yet not understood.
Best Answer
In pathology, the definition for frank is "unmistakable, clinically evident." So in the first sentence, frank indicates that the tumors are no longer occult tumors, but rather tumors that could be observed through normal diagnostic procedures.
(see http://www.dictionary.com/browse/frank third meaning)
An appropriate definition for overt in this context would be "observable, not secret," seeing as it is being contrasted with occult cancer, which is defined in the abstract of the article as "the tumor...unnoticed by the host."
Given that information, I would say that they are being used as synonyms in an effort to liven up the writing, as much as is possible for a medical journal! Both terms communicate that the tumor is obvious or able to be diagnosed.