This book is one of the major textbooks of cancer medicine, now appearing in a third, and inevitably, expanded edition. The editorship has also been expanded, and as a result, the text has undergone substantial change. The book breaks down broadly into two sections, the first of which covers aspects of cancer biology and principles of cancer treatment, and the second of which details therapy for various tumours in a fairly standard site-orientated fashion.
The early chapters are excellent, providing a simple guide to various techniques of cell and molecular biology, followed by accounts of several aspects of tumour cell biology, including the role of growth factors, signal transduction and oncogenes. The chapter on tumour suppressor genes by Fearon and Vogelstein is particularly good, and many other chapters are written by authors of similar standing in their own fields.
The clinical chapters are written in the standard format, again with a very impressive list of authors. The opinions inevitably have a North American bias, but overall, provide an excellent summary of current treatment options. A major criticism of this section of the book is the continuing use of tables showing the results of various combination chemotherapy regimens in different diseases. These tables are unhelpful, and give no indication of the differences in patient selection which occur in different trials.
Overall, this book remains a 'classic', and is to be recommended, particularly for the strength of the early chapters. It is well illustrated with excellent colour plates and vast numbers of line diagrams and tables.
Oncologists in training who are thinking about buying a textbook of oncology should look seriously at this book, which will undoubtedly maintain its status as an important source of reference.