A WOMAN'S DECISION: BREAST CARE, TR...

A WOMAN'S DECISION: BREAST CARE, TREATMENT, AND RECONSTRUCTION, third ed By Karen Berger, John Bostwick 1998 680 pp $1850 paperback

The principally common malignancy American women face is breast cancer. Women today take a more active character in their health care povertys and treatment decisions, and they be entitled to current, honest information about breast cancer, its prognosis, and treatment options.

A leading medical publisher and writer and an eminent breast reconstructive surgeon have written this main division not as a medical body but as a resource for the general public. Although the female layperson is the book's primary target audience, men may benefit as well from the explanations of women's physical and psychological be of importance tos that affect relationships. Physicians, feeds and other medical professionals will find the information invaluable in deriving meaningful insight into their patients who have breast cancer.

This part can best be described as comprehensive. each aspect of breast cancer--from the highly technical to the greatest in quantity personal, sensitive, and intimate--is included. Photographs and illustrations are added, along with beneficial aids in understanding breast anatomy and different models of mastectomy and reconstructive surgical practices Although medical jargon prevails, it is clearly defined and explained, as it is likely that patients and their family members will clash this language during the course of treatment. a certain number of sections are written in question-and-answer format. Others contain personal accounts of patients and their husbands sharing facts, experiences, and feelings and giving advice to readers facing breast cancer decisions.

This third edition omits discussion of runs toward total breast removal and instead focuses forward risk factors, the importance of early detection, the diversity of treatment choices, and novel research developments. Significant emphasis is placed in succession nonclinical issues, such as the physician selection proces and the importance of having individual practitioners (eg general and reconstructive surgeon pathologists, radiation oncologists, nurses) partner with patients and family members as a team.

The work concludes with appendices, a glossary, and an extensive bibliography. The first appendix contains information about national and international organizations, breast cancer support clumps and services, and cancer facilities and center including addresses and telephone numbers. Other appendices incorporate patients' rights, the breast cancer informed assent summary, and classification of breast carcinoma.

It is not necessary to read the entire work to benefit from it. The table of make easys is well delineated, making thicken information easy to find. The part is extremely comprehensive and is addressed to women who commonly have or someday may be diagnosed with breast cancer. I attract favor to it as an addition to each woman's library.

This volume is available from Quality Medical Publishing, Inc, 11970 Borman Dr Suite 222 St Louis, MO 63146; (800) 432-6865

NOTE

1 R Macklin, "The ethical question s with sham surgery in clinical research," The novel England Journal of Medicine 341 (Sept 23 1999) 992-996

LILLIAN JANSEN RN B CNOR SURGERY EDUCATION COORDINATOR NORTHSIDE HOSPITAL ATLANTA

COPYRIGHT 2000 Association of Operating place Nurses, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group