Reviewer: Anders Merg, MD (Private Practice)
Description: This book clearly presents the standard of care in common oncologic problems and diseases. By providing an algorithmic approach for each disease combined with a concise, clinically relevant discussion of the supporting evidence-based medicine, the book allows the information to be easily ingested and assimilated.
Purpose: Recently, the effort to improve patients' outcomes has led to the development of treatment guidelines. However, early data suggest that varying awareness of these treatment guidelines may be a larger contributing factor to differences in treatment and, therefore, discrepancies in outcomes. This book meets the editors' goal by clearly disseminating the current canon of oncologic treatments, allowing a solid oncologic foundation to be built, leading to optimized patient outcomes.
Audience: The majority of contributing authors are from Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center or Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, while the remaining represent a good cross-section of major medical treatment centers. This book would be ideal for any senior resident, an invaluable review for oral boards, and the busy practitioner evaluating a spectrum of oncologic diseases.
Features: The book initially covers oncology diseases from an anatomic basis: alimentary tract (lips to anus), endocrine, pulmonary, breast, skin, soft tissue (sarcomas), skeletal, genitourinary, gynecologic systems, and the most common pediatric malignancies. It reviews diagnostic challenges that arise in oncology ranging from the occult cervical or axillary lymph node, malignant ascites or effusions, and the approach to a mediastinal, adnexal, or liver mass evaluation. The final chapters review emergencies related to oncology, pain management, nutritional support, and legal aspects of treatment withdrawal. The strength of the book is its clear and efficient condensation of the burgeoning oncologic information allowing evidence-based decisions in the selection of populations to screen, use of genetic testing, determination of surgical treatment, and integration of post-surgical therapy with surveillance. In part, this is from its mastery of combining clinical treatment algorithms with an accompanying clear distillation of the evidence driving these decision algorithms. Exceptional chapters included discussions on colon cancer and high-risk premalignant colorectal conditions. Some chapters seemed to be light in their discussions of forefront topics in oncology, such as BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 and their affect on patient screening, surgical management, and surveillance. A common problem evaluated by oncologists are breast cysts and the incorporation of ultrasound, a topic not addressed in this edition.
Assessment: This book is a great addition to the oncology literature, filling the void between comprehensive, multivolume oncology textbooks and pocket handbooks. It helps define a new breed of clinically-oriented, evidence-based medicine books, and would benefit any practitioner evaluating multiple oncologic diseases.
From the reviews:
"This book clearly presents the standard of care in common oncologic problems and diseases. … This book meets the editors’ goal by clearly disseminating the current canon of oncologic treatments, allowing a solid oncologic foundation to be built … . ideal for any senior resident, an invaluable review for oral boards, and the busy practitioner … . This book is a great addition to the oncology literature … . It helps define a new breed of clinically-oriented, evidence-based medicine books … ." (Anders Merg, www.doody.com, February, 2004)
"This book is written in an interesting format. It attempts to give a broad overview over all or almost all tumor entities … . will be particularly useful for the nonspecialized surgeon … . The textbook style format is what makes this book easy to read and gives the perfect overview for those who want to look up something … . cancer surgeons can find useful information for clinical problem solving in situations that cross the borders of individual organs. … this book is a valuable addition to every surgeon’s library." (Michael Gnant, European Surgery, 2004)
"Surgical Oncology … is highly recommended. It is recommended because it covers the breadth of surgical oncology with excellent accessible algorithms … . very useful for trainees studying for postgraduate examinations. … the editors have gathered … up to date information that summarizes current published work on each cancer site. … a useful reference book for a general hospital library as well as within an oncological setting. Each section is well referenced … . the algorithmic approach adopted by these editors and experts is excellent. It is good value for the price … ." (Jane M. Blazeby, European Journal of Cancer Care, Vol. 13 (1), 2004)
"This book is conceived to provide a guideline in the treatment of every single cancer where surgery might be considered, it mainly deals with the decision-making rather than with the surgical technique. … The success of the book will be the formula that is chosen for, where the reader can use either the charts with the easy-to-follow algorithms … to obtain a clear overview about the specific multidisciplinary treatment modalities." (D. Claeys, Acta Chirurgica Belgica, Vol. 104 (1), 2004)
