Radiation Toxicity: A Practical Medical Guide / Edition 1

by William Small, Gayle E. Woloschak

Overview

Radiation Toxicity: A Practical Guide provides insight into the management of day-to-day aspects of radiotherapy. Most radiation oncologists and radiation oncology nurses spend a large percentage of their time dealing with the effects of radiotherapy. This book describes the biology behind each sites acute and long-term responses to radiotherapy, including the best current knowledge regarding radiation tolerance, and fills a needed void in the literature that is available on radiation oncology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781402080531
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	09/16/2005
Series:	Cancer Treatment and Research , #128
Edition description:	2006
Pages:	187
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

The Management of Radiation-Induced Brain Injury.- Management of Radiation-Induced Head and Neck Injury.- Radiation Pneumonitis and Esophagitis in Thoracic Irradiation.- Toxicity from Radiation in Breast Cancer.- Upper Gastrointestinal Tract.- Radiation Complications of the Pelvis.- Radiation-Induced Skeletal Injury.- Skin Changes.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Ann Pittier, MD (University of Washington Medical Center)
Description: This book reviews the most common side effects associated with radiation, including the pathophysiology, presenting symptoms, and management, in an outline format.
Purpose: The goal is to educate practitioners about prophylaxis, treatment, pathophysiology, and management of acute and long term side effects. This is indeed a key topic in the everyday management of the radiation patient. In general, the objectives set out by the authors were met.
Audience: The target audience includes the radiation oncologist, medical oncologist, oncology nurses, radiation therapists as well as students. Practically, it is written for the radiation oncologist, but all the above could benefit from the content. Multiple authors contribute to the book edited by two well known physicians.
Features: This book addresses the toxicity associated with the treatment of specific cancers (i.e. breast cancer) or body region (head and neck). It reviews patient education, acute and long term toxicity management, prophylaxis against side effects, and risk to tissue according to dosimetry. There are numerous figures, tables, and pictures that adequately illustrate incidence, grades and predictors of specific side effects. There are many important side effects that are not addressed, for example, nausea and vomiting in the head and neck patient. This should be described with work-up defined and a practical differential diagnosis provided along with various treatment options. The outline format is often difficult to follow. If an outline is to be used, it should be presented at the beginning of each chapter in a table of contents format for easy reference. Also, the complete topic should be addressed under each heading, rather than piecemeal as it is in this book. If this is not the way it is set up, it would be preferable to simply title different sections rather than label them with letters and numbers.
Assessment: This is a relatively good quality book with some organizational drawbacks. It addresses important topics that are applied to patients on a daily basis. In general, I would recommend this book to my colleagues.

Doody's Review Service

From the reviews:

"The purpose of this book is to provide a guide for radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, oncology nurses, radiation therapists, and others ... . Overall, I believe this book is a useful addition to the literature on radiation injury. Its major strength is that it succeeds in providing a practical guide to the management of many radiation-induced normal tissue complications. Importantly, it also encourages clinicians to keep these issues in mind when designing radiation treatment strategies." (Mitchell S. Anscher, International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, Vol. 70 (5), 2008)

From the Publisher

Reviewer: Ann Pittier, MD(University of Washington Medical Center)
Description: "This book reviews the most common side effects associated with radiation, including the pathophysiology, presenting symptoms, and management, in an outline format.
Purpose: The goal is to educate practitioners about prophylaxis, treatment, pathophysiology, and management of acute and long term side effects. This is indeed a key topic in the everyday management of the radiation patient. In general, the objectives set out by the authors were met.
Audience: The target audience includes the radiation oncologist, medical oncologist, oncology nurses, radiation therapists as well as students. Practically, it is written for the radiation oncologist, but all the above could benefit from the content. Multiple authors contribute to the book edited by two well known physicians.
Features: This book addresses the toxicity associated with the treatment of specific cancers (i.e. breast cancer) or body region (head and neck). It reviews patient education, acute and long term toxicity management, prophylaxis against side effects, and risk to tissue according to dosimetry. There are numerous figures, tables, and pictures that adequately illustrate incidence, grades and predictors of specific side effects. There are many important side effects that are not addressed, for example, nausea and vomiting in the head and neck patient. This should be described with work-up defined and a practical differential diagnosis provided along with various treatment options. The outline format is often difficult to follow. If an outline is to be used, it should be presented at the beginning of each chapter in a table of contents format for easy reference. Also, the complete topic should be addressed under each heading, rather than piecemeal as it is in this book. If this is not the way it is set up, it would be preferable to simply title different sections rather than label them with letters and numbers.
Assessment: This is a relatively good quality book with some organizational drawbacks. It addresses important topics that are applied to patients on a daily basis. In general, I would recommend this book to my colleagues.