Supportive Care in Cancer Therapy is a part of the Cancer Drug Discovery and Development series. Edited by David S. Ettinger, the book comprises chapters written by North American authors on topics of their expertise.
Cancer is a prevalent disease and patients with cancer are living longer. There are more and more discoveries of new agents and more options for people with regards to curative or palliative anti-cancer therapies. This book is useful to those working in palliative medicine, which is my field of practice; we are treating patients earlier in their disease and in parallel with anti-cancer therapies. Furthermore, a large proportion of all our clinical practice relates to an ageing population.
This book would be useful for any clinician working with cancer patients. It is concise (294 pages) and covers the management of symptoms that relate to cancer and/or its treatment. Each chapter has an abstract and at the end summarises key points. It is well referenced and includes evidence-based approaches to symptoms.
I was pleased to discover that it covered not only physical symptoms, but psychological/psychiatric comorbidities, complimentary therapies and end-of-life decisions. This underlies the importance of holistic care and the multidisciplinary approach to care for patients with cancer. Chapter 14 is specific for supportive care of the older patient and geriatric oncology is undoubtedly becoming a discipline of its own.
I would recommend this book to clinicians practising in any of the oncological fields. It can also be used as a reference for specific symptoms and their treatment.