Breast Cancer Basics and Beyond

For most women and their families, a diagnosis of breast cancer is both devastating and confusing. Questions about the disease -- its cause, treatment, and prognosis -- can be overwhelming at such a difficult time. By gathering together all the latest information available on the subject, this book helps women better understand their illness and enables them to make knowledgeable choices about their care. Among topics discussed are the pros and cons of different treatments including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and hormone therapy; breast reconstruction; recurrence rates; building a support team; follow-up care; and life after cancer. The book also explores current issues such as emerging therapies and examines possible links with obesity, ethnicity, and environmental factors. Top breast cancer specialists and researchers offer comments and testimony, and personal stories from breast cancer survivors provide heartening reminders that the reader is not alone.

This is a serious breast cancer book for the woman or professional who wants to know all of the latest information from a reliable source.

Delthia Ricks, M.S., is a senior medical writer for Newsday in New York. She has also been a medical writer for The Orlando Sentinel in Florida and a national science correspondent for United Press International. Her stories not only appear in Newsday but are disseminated worldwide through the LA Times-Washington Post News Service and via the Tribune-Knight Ridder News Service and the Associated Press. Ricks has received numerous awards for science and medical writing and has been awarded fellowships to study medical journalism, cancer, heart disease and genetics at Harvard, Case Western Reserve University of Medicine, and MIT. She speaks frequently before groups of patients and at meet-the-press gatherings in New York City. She lives in Huntington, New York.