Malignancy remains the bleakest area of therapy in medicine. Except for methotrexate in choriocarcinoma and surgical removal and local irradiation for unilateral Wilms' tumor, we hesitate to speak of cure. But shafts of light are penetrating the darkness; we have seen dramatic improvement in survival in patients with Hodgkin's disease and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Other tumors are beginning to budge from dead center where they have been entrenched since anyone can remember.
The current state of chemotherapy is summarized in this excellent book edited by surgeon Warren H. Cole. With his 30 carefully selected experts, he explores the depths of cancer chemotherapy in a series of nine separate essays.
Early chapters are concerned with mechanisms of action, drug treatment of leukemia, and the role of chemotherapy in lymphoma. Three chapters tackle the details of systemic chemotherapy and two discuss regional perfusion. There is a separate section on Wilms' tumor by