Treatment of Acute Leukemias: New Directions for Clinical Research (Current Clinical Oncology) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1617372129 ISBN 13: 9781617372124

Publisher: Humana, 2010

Synopsis

International experts not only review the state-of-the-art in managing children and adults with acute leukemia, but also debate the pros and cons of current controversial and problematic issues. The book summarizes the best diagnostic and treatment practices for acute leukemias in children, adolescents, and adults. Among the therapies discussed are methotrexate, asparaginase, antipurines, epipodophyllotoxins, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, hematopoietic growth factors, and immunotherapy.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Although much progress has been made in the treatment of acute leukemia, there is still vigorous debate over the optimal methods for securing additional gains in event-free survival and for reducing the toxic side effects of "curative" therapy. In Treatment of Acute Leukemias: New Directions for Clinical Research, international experts not only review the state-of-the-art in managing children and adults with acute leukemia, but also debate the pros and cons of current controversial and problematic issues. The book summarizes the best diagnostic and treatment practices for newly diagnosed and relapsed acute lymphoblastic and myeloid leukemia in children, adolescents, and adults. Among the therapies considered are methotrexate, asparaginase, antipurines, epipodophyllotoxins, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, hematopoietic growth factors, and immunotherapy. Problems of central-nervous-system therapy, minimal residual disease, drug resistance, and directions of future research are also considered. Discussion of each major topic by two distinguished groups of investigators ensures broad and balanced coverage.
Comprehensive and up-to-date, Treatment of Acute Leukemias: New Directions for Clinical Research offers oncologists practical guidelines for precise diagnosis and optimal treatment of childhood and adult acute leukemia, as well as insights into those aspects of patient management most in need of further study and refinement.

From The New England Journal of Medicine:

Every year, approximately 3500 children are given a diagnosis of acute leukemia, as compared with about 11,000 adults. Thus, one might expect that in a book devoted to the treatment of the acute leukemias, most of the chapters would discuss acute leukemia in adults. However, the acute leukemias represent almost one third of pediatric cancers and only about 1 percent of cancers in adults. In addition, because almost all children with acute leukemia are treated by pediatric hematologist-oncologists using organized protocols, whereas adults with acute leukemia are treated by either hematologists or oncologists and not always with the use of investigational protocols, many advances in the biology and treatment of the leukemias have occurred primarily and initially in childhood acute leukemia -- in particular, acute lymphoblastic leukemia. For these reasons, it is not surprising that Treatment of Acute Leukemias concentrates on controversial issues in the pediatric acute leukemias. It is to Dr. Pui's credit that he has been able to assemble, as the authors of the chapters, leaders in pediatric hematology-oncology who have spent their careers studying and treating acute leukemias, and he has added to them both superb scientists who have made major contributions to our understanding of these diseases and specialists in acute leukemias in adults. And despite the major contributions that he and his group at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, in Memphis, Tennessee, have themselves made to the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, he has chosen not to present his point of view or those of his group. His work, however, is cited in most of the chapters. The structure of this book is unusual. Each topic is discussed in two chapters, and each of these chapters is written by different authors with somewhat differing approaches to the issues. It is not fair to say that this format resembles that of the old "Controversies in Internal Medicine" monographs, because the data cited, the results analyzed, and the treatment recommended in these paired chapters are often not very different. By contrast, the recommendations for future clinical research, a critically important component of this book and one of its most notable aspects, are often quite distinct. In many of the paired chapters, such as those on the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia in children, the perspectives are similarly outlined and thus easy to compare, whereas in others the construction of one chapter is so different from that of the other that it was sometimes difficult to separate the description of current therapies from the controversies and new directions for research. This book nevertheless offers the best approach to the presentation of problems related to the treatment of the acute leukemias that I know of. The idea of having different groups of investigators give their views on the topics and the emphasis on future directions make it an important contribution to the study of leukemia. Treatment of Acute Leukemias should be read by both adult and pediatric hematologists and oncologists, and it should be required reading for trainees in these disciplines. Dr. Pui, who has already made major contributions through his own work, has added greatly to the future of the field by organizing and editing this impressive book. Harvey J. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D.
Copyright © 2003 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. The New England Journal of Medicine is a registered trademark of the MMS.

About this edition

• Publisher: Humana
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1617372129
• ISBN 13: 9781617372124
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 578
• Editor: Pui Ching-Hon