Abeloff’s Clinical Oncology, 6th Edition

By John E. Niederhuber, MD, James O. Armitage, MD, James H Doroshow,MD, Michael B. Kastan, MD, PhD and Joel E. Tepper, MD

ISBN: 9780323476744

Pub Date: 26 Mar 2019

Reviewed by: Derek Raghavan, MBBS, MD PhD FACP FRACP FASCO (Levine Cancer Institute)

Description

This update of a classic book on oncology, last published in 2014, is a continuing homage to the wonderful career of Marty Abeloff as a leader, clinical and translational scientist, and mentor. It is another megabook, with more than 2,000 pages, that covers all the key topics in modern oncology, perhaps with the exception of the history of oncology (a little surprising as the primary editor is a surgeon, and they LOVE medical history). That said, there are strong sections on mostly everything, from a star-studded authorship.It is amplified by extensive web resources, but it is noteworthy that it is not an easy connection and the publisher requires far too much personal information in order to grant access, given that the book has already been purchased.

Purpose

The purpose is to update this authoritative textbook of oncology for the established and a potentially new audience. It is suitable as a definitive book for physicians, nurses, medical students, and probably for educated patients and caregivers. There has been dramatic change in our understanding of the biology, molecular biology, and management of cancer in the past five years, at an astonishing rate, and thus this update is certainly needed. Although the references are mostly current only to 2016 or 2017, the sections on molecular biology are mostly relevant and cover the essentials of a detailed overview.The book overall meets its objectives very well, with a few exceptions. Of importance, I have not attempted to read every chapter, and the omission of chapters from my list of excellent or less-than-excellent work does not necessarily imply anything about those chapters.

Audience

The book is intended for a broad audience and, for the most part, is written and illustrated clearly and appropriately. My prejudice is that all members of the audience, in 2019-20, will benefit from a broader multidisciplinary input into management recommendations in some of the chapters (including those on trial design where broader clinical input would have been beneficial, and some of the tumor-specific chapters). The author and contributor lists are generally star-studded, experienced, and highly credible. As is often the case, the contributor list, reflecting the backgrounds of the authors, is dominated by MSKCC, NCI, Hopkins, and Harvard, but there is also broad representation from other key centers and no obvious “political” exclusions.

Features

This book presents an overview of biology, molecular biology, screening, diagnosis and management of all types of cancer, and extensively covers the science and translational science of oncology. The discussion of translational science is well written and does not require a PhD for comprehension. As is my habit, I scanned all the elements and drilled down into a few specific zones — viz. clinical trials, testis cancer, and bladder cancer, and also looked at the chapter on head and neck cancer as it is an area that I don’t know well but which is common in my state. The chapter on molecular tools in cancer research is excellent but unusual in that it is written as an authoritative opinion document with no references. It does provide a reading list of books at the end, the most recent of which was published in 2007. The chapter on head and neck cancer is very interesting, current, and well written, but I was struck by the absence of a medical oncologist from the authorship list, and the level of detail regarding systemic therapy is a little light as a result. The chapter is divided into the appropriate anatomic sections, with clear molecular biology, pathology, and management guidelines. In this modern era, the chapter on clinical trial design is simply inadequate and insufficiently critical, failing to cover key current issues — the rise (probably incorrect) in the worship of big-data sets, the absence of the elderly and infirm from trials, and the errors in forest, waterfall, and swimmer plots are not addressed but should have been. I was quite disappointed in the chapter on testicular cancer. The senior author is an unquestioned authority on prostate and renal cancer, but this chapter lacks an authoritative stance and is light on detail. The next edition would do well to add authors with subspecialty expertise on germ cell tumors and authors from pathology, radiation oncology, and surgery. The recommendations listed regarding adjuvant radiotherapy for non-seminoma germ cell tumors are functionally not correct in 2019. The chapters on cancers of esophagus and stomach are very well written and well illustrated, and show clearly that the author is a true expert who understands the biology and management of these diseases; and yet, the chapters lack the true multidisciplinary feel that would have been gained if specialists from other domains of expertise had been added (particularly in the esophagus chapter where the quality and nuances of radiation and surgery are crucially important to curative therapy). The chapter on urothelial malignancy, written by a multidisciplinary team, is authoritative, covers the scope from basic science through translation to treatment, and conveys the input and chapter balance of all the subspecialists involved. Overall, this book is worth having in a medical library or personal collection in view of the range and quality of the chapters. As with all large books, most of the references are no more recent than 2016, but this does not really detract from the utility of the book as the majority of chapters are forward-looking in their presentation and structure.

Assessment

It really is extremely difficult to make a useful comparison among DeVita, Hellman, and Rosenberg’s Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology, 11th edition, DeVita et al. (Wolters Kluwer, 2019),Holland-Frei Cancer Medicine, 9th edition, Bast et al. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2017) and Abeloff’s Clinical Oncology. They all provide authoritative information, and it is noteworthy that DeVita and Cancer Medicine also provide interim updates which do not appear to be a feature of this book. All of these books belong in all medical libraries, and individual readers should explore each one and decide which is best suited to their personal needs. As they are all authoritative overviews, price should also be a consideration.

Doody’s Review Service Weighted Numerical Score: 90-4 Stars!