DR. SUSAN LOVE'S BREAST BOOK

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 12, 1990

Whatever questions you might have about your breasts, Love, a Harvard Medical School breast surgeon, answers them here--not with a ""yes,"" ""no,"" or ""3%,"" but by reviewing and critiquing relevant studies, considering pros and cons (of wearing bras . . .of plastic surgery. . .of breast-feeding with cancer), citing cases from her practice, and noting various qualifying factors and considerations. And she does this with sympathy, patience, and respect. Love covers everything from variations in shape and size to various common conditions (but as for that all-too-common diagnosis, fibrocystic disease, ""there's no such thing""--and you can forget about any claimed effects of coffee). But the bulk of the book deals with breast cancer, from risk factors to rehabilitation or recurrence, again with exceptional thoroughness. The meaning of various pre- and ""pre-pre-cancerous"" conditions, different theories on how breast cancer spreads and their implications for treatment, the uses and limitations of staging tests to detect metastasis, the advisability of chemotherapy for different categories of patients (e.g., node-negative premenopausal women who are also hormone-receptor-negative) are among the topics explored. This could be more than some patients want to deal with. But for those dissatisfied with the usual popular medical guides, and certainly for libraries, it's a boon.

Pub Date: June 12, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Addison-Wesley

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1990

Categories: NONFICTION