Cancer And Its Management

John Han-Chih Chang, MD
Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania
Last Modified: November 1, 2001

Authors: Souhami & Jeffrey Tobias
Publisher: Blackwell Science Ltd., London, 1998
ISBN: 0-86542-774-7

OncoLink Rating:

Professor Souhami and Dr. Tobias are both London-based oncologists who wrote this text for those involved in the medical profession. Their goal is "to provide an introductory text for doctors, other medical workers, students and scientists interested in the problem of cancer." The book provides a multidisciplinary approach, such that oncologists, surgeons, gynecologists and others can integrate their knowledge to better understand cancer and its treatment. The focus of the text is on the principles of diagnosis, staging and treatment. It accomplishes this by defining cancer and its treatments in the first nine chapters, then utilizing the next 19 chapters to discuss specific cancers and their treatments.

The first chapter provides an introduction to the modern treatment of cancer. The next chapter then takes a look at the importance of the study of the epidemiology of cancer. This study provides hints about the cause of cancer, possible prevention, and about creating cancer services. The next two chapters cover the biology and staging of cancer. The fifth chapter provides an overview of radiation therapy, what it is and how it is currently used in treatment. The sixth chapter does the same for chemotherapy.

The seventh chapter is an interesting and important one: it describes the relationship between a physician and a patient, explaining that this relationship is critical to the outcome of the care that a patient receives. It discusses supportive care, rehabilitation and prostheses, quality of life, and symptom control. This chapter provides invaluable information to anyone in the medical profession who will directly deal with patients. Chapter eight goes on to describe medical problems that can result from cancer and its treatment. The ninth chapter provides a list of paraneoplastic and hormonal syndromes that can directly result from a tumor, such as metabolic problems, neurological syndromes, dermatological syndromes, and so forth. It is an extensive and informative list. The rest of the book, as was mentioned, is dedicated to specific cancers and their treatment.

This text is an excellent resource, providing an exhaustive amount of information to anyone in the medical profession interested in learning about cancer. Each chapter contains a wealth of information, concluding with a list of useful references.