Breast Cancer: The Complete Guide: Third Edition - Softcover

Hirshaut, Yashar; Pressman, Peter

3.52

23 ratings by Goodreads

9780553380811: Breast Cancer: The Complete Guide: Third Edition

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553380818 ISBN 13: 9780553380811

Publisher: Bantam, 2000

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Written by two renowned authorities who specialize in the treatment of breast cancer, a surgeon and an oncologist, this lucid step-by-step guide has established itself as the indispensable book women need to make informed decisions about the care that is right for them.

Breast cancer will strike one out of every eight women in the United States. Because there have been many important changes in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer in the last few years, this fully revised Third Edition contains information on the latest developments in the field, including:

� new diagnostic procedures
� changes in the treatment of in situ cancer
� improved surgical techniques
� gene testing
� sequencing radiation and chemotherapy
� HER-2Neu (Herceptin)
� tamoxifen for prevention
� bone marrow and stem cell transplants
� and more

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Review:

Oncologist Hirshaut and surgeon Pressman form a specialized team of renowned authority on the treatment of breast cancer. Their book--a winner of The American Medical Writers Association's Rose Kushner Award--serves as "an additional expert by your side," providing a backstage look at the essence of breast cancer. Written for women diagnosed with breast cancer or concerned about the possibility of developing it, the guide is separated into four informative yet nonthreatening sections: "From Suspicion to Diagnosis," "Treatment," "After the Treatment," and "Life After Cancer."

The authors clarify terminology and treatment jargon that's often lost on the layperson. For instance, fibroadenomas are described as "an orderly growth of cells, confined to the breast, that results in benign, movable, and rounded lumps." The TNM system of staging is clarified as this: "the conditions Tumor, lymph Nodes and Metastasis are taken into account to determine the stage at which the cancer has been found; staging is a vital tool in measuring risk and choosing treatment."

Descriptions and illustrations help explain presurgical procedures, again providing an insider's knowledge into what to expect beyond what is usually provided by a regular physician. Additionally, in a chapter dedicated solely to prevention, the doctors explore factors that may be related to the disease's onset such as heredity, race, diet, vitamins and minerals, alcohol, caffeine, smoking, radiation exposure and other environmental causes, as well as hormones, birth control pills, and hormone replacement therapy.

The guide concludes with a NABCO (National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations) resource list including numerous offices and phone numbers in each state. Want to know more about breast cancer diagnosis and treatment? This guide may very well serve as the next best thing to an on-call physician, providing clear explanations to questions--whether general or specific--via a detailed index and 17 well-organized chapters. --Cate Bick

From the Publisher:

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

"Here are the facts--clear, unterrifying, and important."
--Betty Rollin, author of First, You Cry

"Both timely and current...[It] discusses the most common cancer in women in a precise, clear, and positive way, providing essential information in a warm, supportive fashion in a readable and understandable format."
--Journal of the National Cancer Institute

"Comprehensive, up-to-date, and highly detailed... From selecting the best doctors to describing procedures and treatments, the authors answer all possible questions in a calm, rational manner....Highly recommended."
--Library Journal

"Every woman is touched by the reality of breast cancer--by the fear of it or the fact of it....Drs. Pressman and Hirshaut have written the essential guide, one that should be required reading for every woman."
--Barbara Gordon, author of I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can

"It should be required reading for everyone who is touched by the disease, whether personally or through a family member, friend, colleague, employee, or a patient diagnosed with breast cancer....I can't recommend it enough."
--Today's OR Nurse

"These experts demystify breast cancer in understandable and compassionate terms....Should help hundreds of thousands of women."
--James F. Holland, M.D., Chairman, Department of Neoplastic Diseases, the Mount Sinai Medical Center

"This is a humane, compassionate book which nonetheless manages to be straightforward and comprehensive; the authors have succeeded in addressing the many questions (and the fears) of breast cancer patients, and have done a thorough and sensitive job."
--SHARE

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