Book Review

Oxford Textbook of Oncology

N Engl J Med 1996; 334:547-548February 22, 1996

Article

Oxford Textbook of Oncology
Edited by Michael Peckham, Herbert Pinedo, and Umberto Veronesi. 2481 pp. in two volumes, illustrated. New York, Oxford University Press, 1995. $275. ISBN: 0-19-261685-4

This truly exhaustive treatise on oncology encompasses basic-science aspects of all disciplines, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of virtually all neoplastic diseases. It is a substantial effort and a largely successful one. The book is very well produced and well illustrated throughout. In addition to the scientific and clinical chapters that commonly appear in general oncology textbooks, there are chapters on data management, the conduct of clinical trials, and quality-of-life considerations that are quite well done. As a medical oncologist, I found the extensive coverage of the scientific and technological basis of radiotherapy to be exceptionally clear and informative. Indeed, the fact that most of the chapters are extremely well written is evidence that the editors have taken great pains to achieve a consistency and an absence of repetition that are rare in large, multiauthored textbooks.

My biggest disappointment with the book has to do with the references. Most chapters contain few if any references published after 1993. In an otherwise excellent chapter on photodynamic therapy, there are 51 references, 49 of which were published before 1990. The chapter on cervical cancer is barely referenced at all. The chapter on adult acute leukemia has 123 references, none of which are from 1994 or 1995 and only 9 of which are from 1993. Therefore, some recent advances get short shrift. The chapter on adult leukemia discusses all-trans-retinoic acid in only one short paragraph, and the chapter on acute leukemia in childhood devotes one sentence to that important new agent. Similarly, the chapter on renal-cell carcinoma includes a lengthy discussion of hormonal therapy (five references from the 1960s and 1970s), which works in some rabbits, but barely mentions interleukin-2, which works in some patients. New drugs such as paclitaxel and 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine are only briefly touched on.

Some curious organizational decisions break the flow of some important subjects. For instance, the chapters on brain tumors in children and malignant mesenchymal tumors in childhood do not appear in the section on pediatric tumors. Likewise, the chapter on high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem-cell rescue is in the first volume, and the chapter on autologous bone marrow transplantation for solid tumors and lymphoma is in the second volume.

Nevertheless, I recommend this book highly to all oncologists and oncologists in training as a thorough, informative, and readable reference. Every large institutional library and every oncology library should have it. No other oncology textbook is as encyclopedic as this one. Perhaps a second edition will have more up-to-date references. In the meantime, the editors and authors are to be congratulated for a major contribution, the preparation of which must have occupied them for several years.

Peter H. Wiernik, M.D.
Albert Einstein Cancer Center, Bronx, NY 10467