HEMATOLOGICAL ONCOLOGY, VOL. 12, 141-142 (1994)

BOOK REVIEWS

KEY FACTS I N ONCOLOGY. Nicholas S. A. Stuart. Churchill Livingstone, 1994. No. of pages: 40. Price: f6.50. ISBN 443050988.

This excellent handbook for the most part remains true to its title providing basic infor- mation on the care and treatment of patients with cancer as well as providing sensible guidelines for the management of specific problems arising in patients with malignant disease. It covers staging, common treatments and side-effects of treatment,

oncologic emergencies and principles of palliative care. The book is small and laminated, suited to its intended aim as a ready reference and 1 think that it would be an ideal pocket guide for junior staff working in an oncology unit.

PETER SIMMONDS Senior Registrar in Medicul Oncology, CRC Wessex Medical Oncology Unit,

Southarnp t on, U. K.

MCQS I N MEDICINE. Debra King and Susan J. oncologists will be disappointed at the superficial Benbow. Chapman and Hall Medical, London. 1994. Price: f I 1.99. There is nothing to really distinguish this book

coverage of this area.

This book is like many before it which test an individual’s knowledge of a broad range of sub- jects in internal medicine. It is well set out and therefore easy to use, allowing large sections to be completed in a short period of time. However, like so many books of multiple choice questions, whilst it may identify gaps in the readers knowl- edge, there is scant explanation to accompany the answers, so you often need to search alternative references in order to understand why a par- ticular answer is correct. Those of you who are

from the plethora of other books of multiple choice questions on general medicine which are already in print. However, I am sure that the style of this book will appeal to some readers and it would certainly be an adequate revision aid for final year medical students or those sitting the MRCP exams.

PETER SIMMONDS Senior Registrar in Medical Oncology, CRC Wessex Medical Oncology Unit, Southampton General Hospital, U. K.

BLOOD STEM CELL TRANSPLANTS. R. P. Gale, C. A. Juttner and P. Henon (Eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 1994. Price: f35.00 (Hardback). $59.95.

The proliferation of the use of peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation in the last couple of years, has been accompanied by a number of monographs specifically dedicated to this subject. This volume, edited by Gale, Juttner and Henon, is a further addition to this literature and tends to provide an overview of the laboratory and clinical aspects of peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation at the present time.

The overall layout of the book is different and very interesting with a series of important issues

being raised in the beginning of the book and then attempts at summarizing the current knowledge on these issues in the final chapter, on the basis of the accounts provided in between. This is a nice idea and 1 think that the editors have made it work very well.

The chapters in between fall into the now normal framework of laboratory aspects of peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation, followed by clinical results and in this respect the book is somewhat similar to one or two other monographs which are available. There is a very interesting (but somewhat unnecessary) chapter on the history of blood stem cell transplants, which is then followed by chapters covering vari- ous aspects of stem cell biology, techniques of

0 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.