Thyroid Cancer: A Comprehensive Guide to Clinical Management, 2nd edn

Abstract

This is the second edition of an outstanding textbook edited by Leonard Wartofsky and Douglas Van Nostrand. The editors are to be congratulated on bringing together a remarkable array of multidisciplinary authors, who cover every topic pertaining to the clinical management of thyroid cancer. The book is divided into 11 parts. Parts one, two and three cover general considerations as well as the thyroid nodule, while parts four and five address well-differentiated thyroid cancer. The last six parts cover variants of thyroid cancer and undifferentiated tumours before looking at new frontiers and future directions as well as resources for patients with thyroid cancer. There are outstanding chapters on molecular biology, the staging of thyroid cancer, and recombinant TSH. Imaging of the thyroid is well covered as is the management of the solitary thyroid nodule and I particularly enjoyed the chapter on thyroid cancer in children and adolescents. As is to be expected from a book of this size, the majority of the management discussions revolve around differentiated thyroid cancer, which is extensively covered although there could have been a little more on surgery with particular relevance to cervical lymph nodes and invasive disease. Postoperative treatment with radioactive iodine is similarly well covered and there are excellent chapters on the management of undifferentiated tumours including medullary thyroid cancer, lymphoma and anaplastic malignancy. Medullary carcinoma of the thyroid is particularly well covered with reference to genetics and the more controversial role of prophylactic neck dissection in high-risk patients. The final part of the book covers new approaches in the management of thyroid cancer together with alternative options and future directions for therapy, which all makes for exciting reading. Overall, I would highly recommend this book to all practitioners and associated specialties involved in the management of thyroid cancer. The book is clearly and concisely written, well illustrated and my only criticism would be the apparent bias towards the North American literature (which is hardly surprising given the authorship) together with a lack of emphasis on evidence from systematic reviews and references to recently published guidelines. However, these are minor criticisms of what I believe to be an excellent textbook.