Preface

Preface

The concept for Cancer Management: A Multidisciplinary Approach arose more than 10 years ago. This 10th edition reflects the ongoing commitment of the authors, editors, and publishers to rapidly disseminate to oncologists the most current information on the clinical management of cancer patients.

Important updates and revisions have been made throughout this newest edition. Substantial revisions have been made to a number of chapters, including those on non–small-cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. And throughout all of the book chapters, updates have been made to reflect the latest information about cancer treatment and data on ongoing and new clinical trials.

This 10th volume also provides information on some of the oncology drugs that are listed below, which are newly approved or that have newly approved indications since the last edition was published, including anastrozole (Arimidex), bevacizumab (Avastin), bortezomib (Velcade), capecitabine (Xeloda), cetuximab (Erbitux), dasatinib (Sprycel), decitabine (Dacogen), docetaxel (Taxotere), erlotinib (Tarceva), exemestane (Aromasin), gefitinib (Iressa), gemcitabine (Gemzar), lapatinib (Tykerb), lenalidomide (Revlimid), letrozole (Femara), nelarabine (Arranon), panitumumab (Vectibix), pegaspargase (Oncaspar), rituximab (Rituxan), sorafenib (Nexavar), sunitinib (Sutent), thalidomide (Thalomid), topotecan (Hycamtin), trastuzumab (Herceptin), and vorinostat (Zolinza).

The 47 chapters and 4 Appendices in this newest edition represent the efforts of over 100 contributors from approximately 50 institutions in the United States and Canada.

Three consistent goals continue to guide our editorial policies:

• To provide practical information for physicians who manage cancer patients

• To present this information concisely, uniformly, and logically, emphasizing the natural history of the malignancy, screening and diagnosis, staging and prognosis, and treatment

• To emphasize a collaborative multidisciplinary approach to patient management that involves surgical, radiation, and medical oncologists, as well as other health care professionals, working as a cohesive team.

As with all previous annual editions, each chapter (as appropriate) in the current volume has been authored jointly by practicing medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists. In some cases, other specialists have been asked to contribute their expertise to a particular chapter.

All of our contributors personally manage patients using a multidisciplinary approach in their respective institutions. Thus, these chapters reflect the recommendations of practitioners cognizant that decisions and recommendations regarding therapies must be founded on evidence-based research directed at practical patient care in a cost-effective manner.

To write, edit, and publish this 1,000+-page text requires the dedication of all of the authors, as well as a professional publication staff to coordinate the technical aspects of editing and publishing. We, the authors and editors, acknowledge the following individuals: especially Angela Cibuls, Project Manager for the book; Susan Reckling, Managing Editor of the volume; Stacey Cuozzo, Production Editor; Cara Glynn, Senior Editorial Director; Jeannine Coronna, Publishing Operations Director; Beth Scholz, Publisher; and Melissa Warner, Group Vice President/General Manager of the Oncology Publishing Group of CMP Healthcare Media. We also thank Andrea Bovee, Christina Fennessey, Terri Gelfand, Lisa Katz, Claudine Kiffer, Anne Landry, Andrew Nash, and Ronald Piana for their efforts.