With the recent improvement in cancer therapy, patients are living for extended periods of time. There is little information on the day-to-day problems that these patients experience. The paucity of such information is due to the absence of instruments specifically designed to document these problems. The authors have developed an instrument, The Cancer Inventory of Problem Situations (CIPS), and present a study of 84 cancer patients using the CIPS. Preliminary evaluation of the instrument in this small and heterogeneous group of patients demonstrates that cancer has a significant, extensive impact on psychosocial and physical functioning. Cancer patients have moderate to severe problems in personal care, activity management, involvement with the health care system, work, and interpersonal interactions.