Book Review

Epithelial Cancer of the Ovary

N Engl J Med 1996; 335:64July 4, 1996

Article

Epithelial Cancer of the Ovary
Edited by Frank G. Lawton, Jan P. Neijt, and Kenneth D. Swenerton. 299 pp. London, BMJ, 1995. £47. ISBN: 0-7279-0851-0

This book, dedicated to the biology and treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer, is the third or fourth such publication within the past four years, a reflection of the intense interest in this tumor, which is moderately sensitive to therapy and potentially curable. The fact that the book is a multiauthored work is both its great strength and its great weakness. The authors are well-known authorities. Some of the chapters could stand alone as definitive treatises, including those on trends and mortality, screening for ovarian cancer, management of familial ovarian cancer, prognostic variables in ovarian cancer, ovarian tumors of low malignant potential, surgical management of advanced ovarian cancer, optimal chemotherapy for ovarian cancer, and immunology and immunotherapy of ovarian cancer. This field is changing rapidly, but these chapters will serve the interested reader well for the next several years as a reference.

However, a major defect of this book is that there is some overlap and redundancy between chapters. More important, the reader does not get a good sense of the overall care of the patient with advanced ovarian cancer. There is no attempt to lead the uninformed reader through a clinical decision-making tree for early or advanced ovarian cancer. Perhaps this was intentional, since there are data to show that the primary care of such patients by gynecologic oncologists, a subspecialty group of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, leads to a better outcome than primary management by general gynecologists or general surgeons. Perhaps the intent was to ensure that such patients remain under the care of these surgical specialists. As managed care continues to grow, however, a book similar to this one may prevent inappropriate care by physicians in other surgical disciplines.

William Patrick McGuire, M.D.
Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322