Textbook of Breast Cancer: A Clinical Guide to Therapy
http://www.100md.com
《新英格兰医药杂志》
Breast Cancer
(Atlas of Clinical Oncology.) Second edition. Edited by David J. Winchester, David P. Winchester, Clifford A. Hudis, and Larry Norton. 607 pp., illustrated, with CD-ROM. Hamilton, ON, Canada, BC Decker, 2006. $149.95. ISBN 1-55009-272-3.
Textbook of Breast Cancer: A Clinical Guide to Therapy
Third edition. Edited by Gianni Bonadonna, Gabriel N. Hortobagyi, and Pinuccia Valagussa. 411 pp., illustrated. Abingdon, England, Informa Healthcare/ Taylor & Francis, 2006. $249.95. ISBN 1-84184-418-7.
In 2006, do we still need textbooks to learn how to diagnose and treat breast cancer? The first widely read American textbook on breast cancer was Cushman D. Haagensen's Diseases of the Breast, published in 1956 (Philadelphia: Saunders). Haagensen's meticulous descriptions of his patients and the photographs and anatomical drawings used in the book remain relevant today. The first multiauthored textbook that entered my library was Breast Diseases, edited by Harris, Hellman, Henderson, and Kinne (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1987). It provided an important framework for the modern, multidisciplinary approach to the disease. As the science and the clinical aspects of breast cancer become more complicated, textbooks continue to be a particularly useful medium for integrating all the specialties involved in the care of patients with the disease.
Breast Cancer has 62 contributors from all over the United States. The publisher has provided a full-text CD-ROM with the book, and this transportable addition is already on my laptop. Breast Cancer is a traditional textbook with an excellent first chapter on the history of breast cancer. Anatomy, epidemiology, risk assessment and management, diagnostic techniques, and pathology are all thoroughly discussed. Surgery of the breast is covered in 10 chapters that cover such topics as breast conservation, breast reconstruction, and the management of the axilla, which has changed so much since the rapid adoption of sentinel-node biopsy.
The chapter on lymphedema is superb and should be required reading for all those who take care of patients with breast cancer. There is an up-to-date discussion of adjuvant chemotherapy, including the exciting results presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology in 2005, showing that the addition of trastuzumab leads to a major reduction in the risk of recurrence for women with HER2/neu-positive breast cancer. There is limited information on the management of metastatic breast cancer, a condition that leads to about 40,000 deaths in the United States each year. Surprisingly, the use of intravenous bisphosphonates, which has made an enormous difference in the quality of life for patients with bone metastases, is not mentioned in this book, or in the other textbook reviewed here.
Textbook of Breast Cancer has 39 contributors; 27 are from the United States, 11 are from Italy, and 1 is from the Netherlands. It is not a classic or comprehensive textbook of breast cancer: there are no photographs of breasts, almost no mammograms or histopathological slides, and no survival curves. Some of the chapters read more like essays or learned opinions than traditional textbook chapters. For example, chapter 3, "New Imaging Techniques," is an interesting and enthusiastic presentation of magnetic resonance imaging and positron-emission tomography in breast cancer management; however, digital mammography, an important new imaging technique, is not discussed. The book is well laid out, with simple and clear tables and figures, and there is good "cross-talk" between chapters. I am not surprised that a book dedicated to "the millions of breast cancer survivors who live as a testimony to their courage" includes excellent information about quality-of-life research and survivorship. The practical advice that is included — for example, watching out for increased patient distress at times of transition, such as on completion of primary radiation therapy or adjuvant chemotherapy — is welcome.
I would recommend both books to junior and senior members of multidisciplinary teams involved in the care of patients with breast cancer.
Anne Moore, M.D.
Weill Cornell Medical College
New York, NY 10021
almoore@med.cornell.edu
(Atlas of Clinical Oncology.) Second edition. Edited by David J. Winchester, David P. Winchester, Clifford A. Hudis, and Larry Norton. 607 pp., illustrated, with CD-ROM. Hamilton, ON, Canada, BC Decker, 2006. $149.95. ISBN 1-55009-272-3.
Textbook of Breast Cancer: A Clinical Guide to Therapy
Third edition. Edited by Gianni Bonadonna, Gabriel N. Hortobagyi, and Pinuccia Valagussa. 411 pp., illustrated. Abingdon, England, Informa Healthcare/ Taylor & Francis, 2006. $249.95. ISBN 1-84184-418-7.
In 2006, do we still need textbooks to learn how to diagnose and treat breast cancer? The first widely read American textbook on breast cancer was Cushman D. Haagensen's Diseases of the Breast, published in 1956 (Philadelphia: Saunders). Haagensen's meticulous descriptions of his patients and the photographs and anatomical drawings used in the book remain relevant today. The first multiauthored textbook that entered my library was Breast Diseases, edited by Harris, Hellman, Henderson, and Kinne (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1987). It provided an important framework for the modern, multidisciplinary approach to the disease. As the science and the clinical aspects of breast cancer become more complicated, textbooks continue to be a particularly useful medium for integrating all the specialties involved in the care of patients with the disease.
Breast Cancer has 62 contributors from all over the United States. The publisher has provided a full-text CD-ROM with the book, and this transportable addition is already on my laptop. Breast Cancer is a traditional textbook with an excellent first chapter on the history of breast cancer. Anatomy, epidemiology, risk assessment and management, diagnostic techniques, and pathology are all thoroughly discussed. Surgery of the breast is covered in 10 chapters that cover such topics as breast conservation, breast reconstruction, and the management of the axilla, which has changed so much since the rapid adoption of sentinel-node biopsy.
The chapter on lymphedema is superb and should be required reading for all those who take care of patients with breast cancer. There is an up-to-date discussion of adjuvant chemotherapy, including the exciting results presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology in 2005, showing that the addition of trastuzumab leads to a major reduction in the risk of recurrence for women with HER2/neu-positive breast cancer. There is limited information on the management of metastatic breast cancer, a condition that leads to about 40,000 deaths in the United States each year. Surprisingly, the use of intravenous bisphosphonates, which has made an enormous difference in the quality of life for patients with bone metastases, is not mentioned in this book, or in the other textbook reviewed here.
Textbook of Breast Cancer has 39 contributors; 27 are from the United States, 11 are from Italy, and 1 is from the Netherlands. It is not a classic or comprehensive textbook of breast cancer: there are no photographs of breasts, almost no mammograms or histopathological slides, and no survival curves. Some of the chapters read more like essays or learned opinions than traditional textbook chapters. For example, chapter 3, "New Imaging Techniques," is an interesting and enthusiastic presentation of magnetic resonance imaging and positron-emission tomography in breast cancer management; however, digital mammography, an important new imaging technique, is not discussed. The book is well laid out, with simple and clear tables and figures, and there is good "cross-talk" between chapters. I am not surprised that a book dedicated to "the millions of breast cancer survivors who live as a testimony to their courage" includes excellent information about quality-of-life research and survivorship. The practical advice that is included — for example, watching out for increased patient distress at times of transition, such as on completion of primary radiation therapy or adjuvant chemotherapy — is welcome.
I would recommend both books to junior and senior members of multidisciplinary teams involved in the care of patients with breast cancer.
Anne Moore, M.D.
Weill Cornell Medical College
New York, NY 10021
almoore@med.cornell.edu