Recenze na monografii prof. MUDr. P. Klenera, DrSc. KLINICKA ONKOLOGIE ; September 30th, 2002 To the publishers:
There has been a major revolution in oncology in the last 5-10 years. It has gone largely unnoticed by the general population bul even more so by doctors including oncologists themselves. Our standard textbooks of oncology had been too descriptive and had become largely outdated.
First, the progress in our understanding of the basic biological process and regulations, which has been explosive, has fmally brought fruit in provision of much more specific ("design") drugs for treatments of a specific disorder in the way not envisaged at the time when we treated cancer by non-specific cytoreduction. Second, a gradual recognition that cancer is a chronic condition rather than a one-time event in a person's life resulted in our treating cancer repeatedly using 2nd and 3rd and subsequent lines of therapy. The concomitant progress in the management of side effects of chemotherapy has resulted in patients actually getting better with each chemotherapy delivered. All that has resulted in the current emphasis on clinical trials aiming to improve Quality of life rather and perhaps in addition to the improvement of survival.
Treatment of cancer is now thus open to an ever-increasing number of patients as their numbers increase with the increase in the median age of the general population. The cancer treatments are successful. The patients often live long enough to gel 2nd or 3rd cancer and the survival in each cancer category is slowly bul surely improving every year.
It was thus a great pleasure to receive a truly modem text book of oncology "KlinickOnkologie" written by Professor Pavel Klener and his team from institutions in Prague and Brno, Clech Republic.
The book encompasses all-important areas of cancer biolQgy, diagnosis, therapy, though not all of them are treated equally. The chapter on epidemiology in particular is quite brief and should be made more exhaustive in future editions ofthe book.
The chapters on regulation and biology of cancer are modem, well written, with great illustrations and will be very useful to every reader of the book. The chapters, which deal with general effects of radiation and chemotherapy, are particularly useful and quite sufficient for understanding of cancer in general. Palliative care, on the other band, which now plays a greater role in cancer care, could be enlarged (though there are a number of specific publications in trus area and they CaD be referred to).
The review ofindividual tumour categories is complete, briefbut sufficient as reference material. The medical oncologist will have, of course, supplemented it by reading current literature, specifically in the area of clinical trials.
In genera! the book is very well written and, with the exception of the above-mentioned areas, well balanced. It should be a basic reference book for every medical oncologist and radio-oncologist. It will be particularly useful to the surgical oncologists. I CaD highly recommend trus book to all intemal medicine specialists who will find the book very bandy in quick orientation in cancer care area when they encounter patients with cancer in their practice. The book will should also be used by general practitioners at large and since it is so clearly written, nurses interested in oncology will find the book helpful as well.
Congratulations to the author for writing such an informative, clear and up-to-date textbook. I could only wish that such a practical modem book was available in English language as well. We would all use it.
J. F. Prchal, MF, FRCP (C), Chief Departrnent of Oncology, St. Mary' s Hospital, McGi11 University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
review: Klinická onkologie
