Book Review

Lung Cancer

N Engl J Med 2008; 359:2505December 4, 2008

Article

Lung Cancer
Third edition. Edited by Jack A. Roth, James D. Cox, and Waun Ki Hong. 468 pp., illustrated. Malden, MA, Blackwell, 2008. $169.95. ISBN: 978-1-4051-5112-2

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in North America, with an estimated 213,380 new cases and 160,390 deaths anticipated in 2008. Since the publication of the previous edition of Lung Cancer 10 years ago, there have been important advances in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of lung cancer, as well as in our understanding of the biology of this disease. The current edition builds on the strength of the previous editions, with 28 chapters compiled from contributions by authors from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and from other institutions in the United States and elsewhere.

Smoking is the major risk factor for lung cancer, and the book begins with an important chapter devoted to smoking cessation. There are two chapters on susceptibility to lung cancer that cover complex topics, but they could have benefited from the inclusion of diagrams to aid in comprehension. Three chapters are devoted to discussion of the biology, detection, and treatment of preneoplastic lung lesions. Assessment of these lung lesions is an important topic because if we can detect and treat them earlier, we may be able to have an effect on patients' survival.

Several well-referenced chapters are devoted to the surgical staging and management of non–small-cell lung cancer, and they include helpful diagrams. Three chapters are discussions of radiation therapy, one of the greatest advancements in the treatment of lung cancer. The chapter on new chemotherapeutic agents is primarily a discussion of agents that have been in use for at least the past five years but are new since the previous edition of the text, with a brief mention of some of the more novel therapies on the last two pages. Appropriately, entire chapters are devoted to angiogenesis inhibitors and epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors, two classes of agents that have been heavily studied and were recently approved for the treatment of patients with non–small-cell lung cancer. Disappointingly, the chapter on small-cell lung cancer — a disease that has decreased in incidence in the past decade but continues to account for 12 to 15% of new diagnoses of lung cancer — has been eliminated from this edition.

Overall, the book was well planned. Each chapter is a concise review of the recent literature, with detailed references. Where warranted, there are tables, black-and-white diagrams, and photographs that expand on the information provided in the text. There are a few pages of color images that display pathology, radiation therapy planning, positron-emission tomographic scans, and bronchoscopy findings. This well-organized book will be useful to pulmonologists, thoracic surgeons, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, and others with an interest in lung cancer.

Leora Horn, M.D., M.Sc.
Alan B. Sandler, M.D.
Vanderbilt–Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN 37232