Abstract
The treatment of esophageal and hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma is a highly complex, multidisciplinary process, requiring a well-orchestrated progression of medical and surgical interventions. Treatment of Esophageal and Hypopharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinomais an excellent reference for clinicians caring for these patients as well as scholars interested in esophageal cancer. The aim of the textbook is to provide an in-depth review of the current understanding of esophageal and hypopharyngeal squamous cell cancer and to review controversial topics. Written by a surgeon, the almost singular focus on malignant processes of the foregut that has characterized Professor de Manzoni's career is evident and, overall, the textbook is successful in achieving these aims. Well-organized, with appropriate division of the topics into clinically relevant sections and chapters, the textbook is an excellent overview text as well as a quick reference tool to address specific questions. The chapters are well-written and edited, with remarkable consistency in the writing style and comprehensiveness of the topic review between chapters, despite multiple authors. This renders the text easy to read and understand. The strengths of the text began in the planning stages, when a very thorough list of the critical topics of interest to the reader was compiled. The table of contents is informative and the ordering of chapters is intuitive; because they are thoughtfully ordered, each topic appropriately informs the review and understanding of the next set of topics. The illustrations, tables and figures are informative and add to the existing text, without being repetitive. The references, with few exceptions, are appropriate and recent, providing a current understanding of the topic. The subject index is adequate to guide readers to specific topics. The text begins with an overview of the epidemiology of esophageal and hypopharyngealsquamous cell cancer and then proceeds with chapters dedicated to staging and classification, pretreatment workup, molecular biology in evaluation of tumor response, and progresses through critical decision points regarding treatment options, immediate and long-term outcomes. The text does not neglect the topics that are most relevant to the patient, where success is defined not only by the elimination of the cancer, but also by the preservation of quality of life and normal functioning. Individual chapters review the utility of various staging and treatment modalities in great detail, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each and providing a quick, but thorough resource for students or clinicians who may be less familiar with this disease. High-quality figures illustrating the findings add substantially to the value of the review. This text is not designed as a step-by-step surgical instruction manual and, for rapidly advancing topics, is already somewhat dated with regard to the topic. This is especially true for the chapter on minimally invasive esophagectomy which asserts that this approach is controversial. While technically challenging and requiring extensive expertise in advanced laparoscopic techniques, the oncologic safety of minimally invasive esophagectomyin the management of esophageal cancer, based on randomized clinical trials and multiple retrospective publications with significant numbers of patients from our center and others, has been established. In addition, the use of endoscopic therapies for management of early stage esophageal cancer is of considerable interest and could easily have been reviewed as a stand-alone chapter. Instead, the textbook devotes only a small section of the chapter on treatment of resectable cancers to the topic and limits the discussion to endoscopic resection, with no mention of ablative therapy; this is a small, but real shortcoming of the textbook. Treatment of Esophageal and Hypopharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinomais unique among publications on the topic for several reasons. First, many publications focus on specific aspects of care and the narrowly defined their audience, thus providing great depth but little breadth and incomplete guidance to the clinician. This text by Giovanni de Manzoni stands in sharp relief, however, by addressing a narrow topic with expansive and comprehensive attention to every aspect of care. In addition, it is one of the only textbooks specifically devoted to the topic of esophageal and hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma;most textbooks either focus on esophageal cancer in general (including adenocarcinoma) or they include all squamous cell cancer, such as esophagus, lung and skin, among others. Overall, the textbook Treatment of Esophageal and Hypopharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma, by Giovanni de Manzoni is an excellent contribution to the field. It is reasonably priced with excellent value and can be highly recommended to clinicians who are involved in the direct care of these patients and to scholars interested in esophageal cancer. Reviewer Ratings Coverage of relevant topics 4 Improvement over previously available media 5 Style of presentation and formatting 5 Quality of figures 4 Overall 4
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