Fey, M. F.

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Book reviewsNeoplastic Diseases of the BloodP. H. Wiernik, J. M. Goldman, J. P. Dutcher, R. A. Kyle (eds). Fourthedition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2003, 1196 pp,£245.00Without question, this is the most comprehensive, almostencyclopaedic textbook on leukaemias, myeloproliferativeand myelodysplastic syndromes and lymphomas presentlyavailable. Written by a large number of authorities in differ-ent fields, the book is divided into five sections (chronic leu-kaemias and related disorders; acute leukaemias; myelomaand related disorders; lymphomas; supportive care). Eachsection begins with a chapter on historical perspectives thatis fascinating to read and at the same time useful because itleads the reader to realise the enormous progress that hasbeen achieved during the last century and particularly duringthe last 40 years. Epidemiology, pathology and morphology,molecular biology, immunobiology, genetics, classification,staging and treatment of various disease entities follow, andeach chapter ends with an unbeatable collection of hundredsof references. Probably unavoidable are repetitions in a num-ber of chapters, and the question arises whether the authorsof the various chapters always knew about the content of thepreceding and following ones. Considerable efforts havebeen undertaken to present up to date knowledge, success-fully so in the majority of chapters. The chapter on cyto-chemical and morphological classification of acuteleukaemias, however, is outdated: immunophenotyping ofacute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is not only ‘useful’but mandatory, and the FAB classification of ALL hasbecome irrelevant. The authors should have concentrated onthe WHO classification rather than presenting a confusinghybrid of FAB and WHO for acute leukaemias and myelo-dysplastic syndromes. For the lymphomas, the WHO classifi-cation has been used consequently. Particularly valuable isthe section on supportive care, which covers prevention,diagnosis and treatment of bacterial, fungal and viral infec-tions, transfusion medicine including haematopoietic stemcell support, various aspects of allotransplantation, growthfactor support and psychological aspects of patients withhaematological neoplasias.As stated in the preface, it was the editors’ aim to design anencyclopaedic resource for established haematologists andmedical oncologists taking care of adults and children. Thereviewer believes that this aim has been achieved magnifi-cently. This is a carefully edited, very good book, and nothingcomparable is on the market.D. K. HossfeldHamburg, Germanydoi:10.1093/annonc/mdi005Principles of Molecular OncologyM. H. Bronchud, M. A. Foote, G. Giaccone, O. Olopade, P. Workman(eds). Second edition, Humana Press, 2004, 736pp, US$ 149.50No fewer than three prominent professors have been recruitedto write forewords to this revised edition of a rather successfulbook on ‘molecular oncology’, a field very much in the lime-light these days. Its content is described in the editorials as a‘bold look at the evolution of our knowledge of cancer’, as a‘lucid . . . account of . . . one of the genuine success stories ofmolecular medicine’, and as ‘providing valuable informationfor the continuing education of all oncologists.’ A quickbrowse through its pages, and much more so some concen-trated reading of excerpts from its columns will prove, thatthe editorialists do not exaggerate. There is indeed much valu-able information in each of the chapters, the references areextensive (typically several 100 per section) and updated tothe year 2003. I particularly liked chapter 9 on ‘Growth factorsignalling pathways in cancer’, where entire molecular path-ways are described rather than redundant lists of single cancergenes. The essay on oestrogen action and breast cancer (sec-tion 10) is to my mind particularly authoritative and concise,just as much as chapter 6 on ‘Molecular diagnostics of can-cer’, which provides a neat overview of tumour clonality ana-lyses, molecular cytogenetics and expression profiling. All iswell then, and nothing to criticise? Not quite, I am afraid,since I do need to bring up a number of quibbles. They do notreally mar the overall appeal of this book, but some pointscould have been improved, and must be taken care of in futureeditions. I fail to see why ‘traditional’ circulating serumtumour markers such as AFP or CEA find a place in thisbook, and there are far better overviews on these routine mar-kers available in the literature and in many textbooks ofoncology. The chapter on the ‘Clinical importance of prognos-tic factors’ is certainly well written, but it does not focus onmolecular oncology, nor are its data derived to any greatextent from molecular studies. Why discuss BCL-1 and BCL-2 twice in separate sections of the same chapter on ‘Geneticmarkers in sporadic tumours’? The opening article onAnnals of Oncology 16: 175–176, 2005q 2005 European Society for Medical Oncology‘The right targets for cancer therapy’ turns out to be a verybroad survey of topics such as diets in cancer, molecularoncology (as you would expect), tumour clonality issues,trends in mortality due to cancer, hereditary predisposition tocancer, and others. Whilst I do not deny that these variousissues, heterogeneous as they are, are well discussed, I some-what miss a clear focus of this chapter. Finally, the graphicpresentation of the book is less than ideal, with too few tables,and too few explanatory figures or graphs. It has been saidthat a picture is worth a thousand words or so. Perhaps thisadvice might also be considered for oncology textbooks suchas this one. On a positive vein, the various chapters are writtenin an authoritative style and in a timely fashion. For clinicaloncologists without a specific interest in the molecular biologyof cancer, and for medical students, the book is perhaps toodetailed and too basic. However, anyone working on cancerproblems in an academic setting will be able to pull out muchvaluable information from this work’s columns.M. F. FeyInstitute of Medical Oncology, Inselspital and University,Berne, Switzerlanddoi:10.1093/annonc/mdi011176

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