From Booknews
Initiated by the Breast Cancer International Research Group (BCIRG), this book begins with a discussion of clinical trials and how to evaluate clinical evidence, then presents reviews of the available data for a variety of treatment modalities: chemotherapy, high-dose chemotherapy, hormone therapy, biological response modifiers, surgical treatment (special issues), radiation therapy, supportive therapy, and prognostic/predictive factors. The final sections cover integration of new therapies into breast cancer management, issues of neoadjuvant treatment for locally advanced or inflammatory disease, the controversial problem of DCIS and LCIS, and the Internet, health professionals and the health consumer. Distributed by Blackwell Science. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Preface
Contributors
Available Tools and Their Application
History of the use of evidence in medicine
Clinical practice guidelines
Economic evaluation analysis in breast cancer therapy: From evidence to practice
RECIST: Response evaluation criteria in solid tumors
Definitions of trial design
The need for large-scale randomized evidence for reliable assessment of moderate benefits
How to analyze evidence
Treatment Modalities
Chemotherapy
Taxanes: paclitaxel and docetaxel
Vinorelbine
Liposomal doxorubicin in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer
Capecitabine in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer
High-dose Chemotherapy
Role of high-dose chemotherapy as an adjuvant in high-risk early breast cancer
High-dose adjuvant therapy for breast cancer: The argument against
High-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation for metastatic breast cancer
Hormone Therapy
New antiestrogens: Modulators of estrogen action
Aromatase inhibitors in the treatment of breast cancer
Other hormone treatments
Biological Response Modifiers
HER2/neu and the clinical development of Herceptin
Monitoring molecular outcomes of E1A gene therapy in breast and ovarian cancer
Angiogenesis, antiangiogenic therapy and breast cancer
Special Issues in Surgical Treatment
Historical perspective and present and future challenges
Should surgeons abandon routine axillary dissection for sentinel node biopsy in early breast cancer?
Surgical considerations in breast cancer patients treated with preoperative chemotherapy
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy in the management of breast cancer
Survival gains of locoregional radiation in early breast cancer
Supportive Therapy
The place of bisphosphonates in the management of breast cancer
Erythropoietin in the management of cancer patients
Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting
Prognostic/Predictive Factors
Histological prognostic factors in invasive breast cancer
Predictive factors in breast cancer
Integration of New Therapies into Breast Cancer Management
Special Issues in Metastatic Breast Cancer
Breast cancer in elderly patients
Quality of life data interpretation: Key issues in advanced breast cancer
Treatment of Early Stage Breast Cancer
Adjuvant treatment: Node-negative breast cancer
Adjuvant treatment: Node-positive breast cancer
Predictive molecular markers: A new window of opportunity in the adjuvant therapy of breast cancer
p53 as a potential predictive factor of response to chemotherapy: From bench to bedside
Preoperative chemotherapy
Evolution in the management of ductal carcinoma in situ through randomized clinical trials
Ductal carcinoma in situ: Grading, biologic implications and clinical outcome
Prevention and Screening for Breast Cancer
Chemoprevention studies in Italy and the UK
Prevention of invasive breast cancer in women at increased risk
Breast cancer screening: The population and the patient
Breast screening
Conclusions
The Internet, health professionals and the health consumer
Summary statement
Index