Every year more than one million people in the U.S. learn that they have cancer. This diagnosis is no longer an automatic death sentence. Research has provided improved diagnostic and treatment methods that lead to cures in many cases. Understanding that cancer is in fact a generic name for many different diseases and learning how it occurs and spreads will help patients make decisions about treatment.
This encyclopedia, compiled by physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and medical writers, provides detailed information about the various kinds of cancer (Acute myelocytic leukemia, Ovarian cancer); diagnostic procedures (Biopsy, Upper GI series); drugs (Capecitabine, Marijuana ); treatments (Colectomy, Bone marrow transplantation); and scientific concepts (Cancer biology, Chromosome rearrangements). The signed, alphabetical entries range in length from one paragraph to several pages. The longer articles have shaded boxes with definitions of key terms and questions to ask the doctor, they also have resource lists. More than 200 illustrations, photographs, and charts augment the text. A set of anatomical diagrams highlighting the organ systems appears in the front of each volume. Three appendixes provide lists of National Cancer Institute designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, national support groups, and government agencies and research groups.