The Cancer Treatment Revolution: How Smart Drugs and Other New Therapies Are Renewing Our Hope and Changing the Face of Medicine Hardcover - 2007 - 1st Edition

Summary

From the rear cover

For the millions who face cancer, there is good news: today, many patients with formerly fatal diagnoses will enter complete remission and live their lives in good health. Thousands of people every year are surviving cancers that were considered fatal just a decade or two ago. Great strides are being made in the treatment of cancer using a combination of modern surgical techniques, radiation, chemotherapy treatment, and smart drugs custom-designed to block the growth of cancer cells. In this fascinating and hopeful book, world-renowned doctor and researcher Dr. David G. Nathan reveals both the scientific and human aspects of the war against cancer and explores what it means to have and to fight cancer in the 21st century.

The Cancer Treatment Revolution is both an examination of the history of cancer research and a celebration of the medical professionals, scientific researchers, and courageous patients who refuse to give up hope in the face of illness. Dr. Nathan writes movingly about Mario, a young boy who was diagnosed with a variety of leukemia that until recently was considered untreatable; six years after his diagnosis, Mario is in remission. Nathan also writes the inspiring story of Joan, a 62-year-old mother and community activist who learned she had an aggressive form of breast cancer, but who beat her diagnosis through a combination of surgery, radiation therapy, and hormone-blocking drugs. Nathan also writes about Ken, a 48-year-old man who nearly died of a stomach tumor one traumatic night but who, with the help of new smart drugs, fought back against his disease with fearlessness and optimism one day at a time. Both dramatic and highly informative, The Cancer Treatment Revolution introduces you to these and other patients, their doctors, nurses, and loved ones, and the scientists who have spent the last century working tirelessly for the solution to conquering cancer.

From the jacket flap

For the millions who face cancer, there is good news: today, many patients with formerly fatal diagnoses will enter complete remission and live their lives in good health. Thousands of people every year are surviving cancers that were considered fatal just a decade or two ago. Great strides are being made in the treatment of cancer using a combination of modern surgical techniques, radiation, chemotherapy treatment, and smart drugs custom-designed to block the growth of cancer cells. In this fascinating and hopeful book, world-renowned doctor and researcher Dr. David G. Nathan reveals both the scientific and human aspects of the war against cancer and explores what it means to have and to fight cancer in the 21st century.

The Cancer Treatment Revolution is both an examination of the history of cancer research and a celebration of the medical professionals, scientific researchers, and courageous patients who refuse to give up hope in the face of illness. Dr. Nathan writes movingly about Mario, a young boy who was diagnosed with a variety of leukemia that until recently was considered untreatable; six years after his diagnosis, Mario is in remission. Nathan also writes the inspiring story of Joan, a 62-year-old mother and community activist who learned she had an aggressive form of breast cancer, but who beat her diagnosis through a combination of surgery, radiation therapy, and hormone-blocking drugs. Nathan also writes about Ken, a 48-year-old man who nearly died of a stomach tumor one traumatic night but who, with the help of new smart drugs, fought back against his disease with fearlessness and optimism one day at a time. Both dramatic and highly informative, The Cancer Treatment Revolution introduces you to these and other patients, their doctors, nurses, and loved ones, and the scientists who have spent the last century working tirelessly for the solution to conquering cancer.