© 2000 by Oxford University Press
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 92, No. 23, 1946,
December 6, 2000
© 2000 Oxford University Press
BOOK REVIEW |
Management of Prostate Cancer
E. Klein, ed. Totowa (NJ): Humana Press, 2000. 372 pp., illus. $99.50. ISBN 0-89603-797-5
Correspondence to: Eric J. Seifter, M.D., F.A.C.P., The Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, 600 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205.
There is a clinical adage that states that all men are destined to get prostate cancer if they live long enough (with a well-documented exception for eunuchs, because of ablation of male hormone at an early age). Yet relatively few patients die of prostate cancer in comparison with the actual incidence, which is much higher than the 210000 cases identified in 1997. More than 50000 men die of prostate cancer each year, which makes this malignancy a major public health concern. How can we reconcile these seemingly disparate points of view? The Management of Prostate Cancer is a concise series of essays on controversial and current topics that now define this rapidly changing area.
This book is not a comprehensive treatise on prostate cancer. You will not find a discussion on the use of free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) percentage in diagnosis or the new, more effective, and less toxic chemotherapeutic options for patients with hormone-refractory metastatic disease. You will not find a long discussion on the controversial question of when to start treatment with relapsing disease defined only by a rising PSA. What you will find is a series of excellent chapters on many different aspects of the management of prostate cancer that I enjoyed thoroughly. In one of my favorite chapters, "Screening for Prostate Cancer," by Ian Thompson and John Foley, the authors present a point–counterpoint argument regarding the utility of screening, presenting both points of view with more balance than I have seen before. This chapter alone would justify the purchase of this book. Other notable chapters include, "A Current Synthesis of the Management of Prostate Cancer: When is Observation Appropriate," by Peter C. Albertsen, and "Contemporary Technique of Radical Retropubic Prostatectomy," by Eric Klein, Mark R. Licht, and Faiyaaz Jhaveri.
Uniform agreement on the management of prostate cancer is not possible at this time, due to both the lack of appropriate randomized clinical trials and to new research breakthroughs, which threaten to render any such trials obsolete. These essays help to summarize and crystallize our areas of knowledge and ignorance at the turn of the century. I recommend this book highly, particularly for all clinicians who want to understand the current state-of-the-art in this area.
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