There are 29 contributors to this 300 page book of gastrointestinal oncology. The authors presumably espouse the idea of an organ specialist rather than a cell specialist. The book is divided into two parts.
The first part deals with general subjects including methods of treatment, aetiology, histopathology and screening tests. Curiously the methods of diagnosis are not discussed.
The second part consists of chapters running sequentially from gullet to anus plus chapters on lymphoma, smooth muscle tumours, carcinoid and endocrine tumours of the pancreas. The chapter content is rather uneven: no histological plates, radiographs or operative details are given in the majority of the chapters, but no less than ten histological slides are reproduced in the section on bile duct cancer (why don't they appear in the chapter on histopathology?). Radiographs of barium studies only appear in the small bowel section. Operative photographs (dificult to decipher) appear in the section on bile duct tumours. The reproduction of some of the radiographs is not good. The cholangiogram on page 167 is incomprehensible and the one on page 176 is back to front. There are no illustrations of diagnosis or surgical technique in the chapters on oesophagus, stomach, liver, large bowel or anus. The more uncommon tumours are well discussed. Each chapter is followed by a comprehensive reference list.
Perhaps the most spectacular development in gastrointestinal oncology in the last decade is in the treatment of anal cancer. It is now possible to cure the majority of patients without resorting to ablative surgery. Effective treatment in gastrointestinal oncology is otherwise limited to surgical excision with the possible exception of some patients with carcinoma of the oesophagus.
In summary, the state of the art is by and large well discussed in this volume and possible avenues of progress are pointed out.