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Recommended Reading THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE Most experts agree there are steps people can take to lower their risk for certain cancers and screening can help detect some cancers early and potentially reduce their impact. At the same time, the research on diagnosis and treatment of cancer, including new drugs, is constantly changing, and it is difficult to stay abreast of the latest news. At the National Cancer Policy Board, one of the nine Boards administered by the U.S. Institute of Medicine, focuses on issues in science, clinical medicine, public health, and public policy that are relevant to preventing and curing cancer. The Board is currently preparing to release its last major report focusing on the status and needs of the 10 million adult survivors of cancer in the U.S. Interested in learning more about protecting yourself from cancer by early detection or by actually preventing the development of cancer? Roger C. Herdman, director of the National Cancer Policy Board for the last five years and more recently of its successor National Cancer Policy Forum says the Institute of Medicine has reviewed this subject exhaustively. Here, he give s his personal suggestions for some of the best sources for learning about cancer from a range of perspectives. • Fulfilling the Promise of Cancer Prevention and Early Detection (National Academies Press, 2003, http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10263.html)"This authoritative and comprehensive look at the subject was put together by a panel of national experts. Although it is becoming slightly dated in some details, it still provides important information on avoidable disease and death caused by a failure to implement proven methods of cancer prevention. It discusses lifestyle and risk behaviors, screening for cancer, federal programs, and research among other things." • Fulfilling the Promise of Cancer Prevention and Early Detection: an American Cancer Society and Institute of Medicine Symposium (National Academies Press, 2004, http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10941.html) "This shorter, derivative book reports presentations from federal and private sector experts including the Director of the National Cancer Institute and the CEO of the American Cancer Society, among others. It also includes some interesting group discussions among assembled experts from many perspectives. Overall, it is more manageable than the 2003 book for those who don't need to know everything from every angle."
• U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/cps3dix.htm#cancer "Not every source provides precisely the same information on prevention and early detection, but the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is generally recognized as among the most rigorously based on solid evidence. The task force is sponsored by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and is the leading independent panel of private-sector experts in prevention and primary care. It evaluates the benefits of individual services and recommends which preventive services should be incorporated routinely into primary medical care. Its cancer Web site provides information on the major cancers -- breast, colorectal, lung and prostate -- and many others and is loaded with links to other informative Web sites.
• Guide to Community Preventive Services (Oxford University Press, 2005)
http://www.thecommunityguide.org/cancer/Cancer.pdf This publication of the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, a private, independent group of experts appointed by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reviews preventing skin cancer, increasing screening of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer, and behaviors related to cancer prevention and risk such as physical activity and tobacco use. Interestingly, the Task Force also attempts to review economic implications when information on these is available.
• Centers for Disease Control
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer "Since the CDC's mission is prevention, it's worth visiting the agency's Web site for information on a range of prevention programs, including the over $200 million breast and cervical cancer early-detection program that supports free or low-cost mammograms and pap tests for over 400,000 women each year."
• The National Cancer Institute
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/prevention The National Cancer Institute maintains comprehensive information on cancer prevention and early detection in general and on a large number of individual cancers including the four major cancers: breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate. Each cancer topic is conveniently targeted at either patients or health professionals. You can get information on the cancer and how often it occurs, prevention strategies available, and what groups of people would most likely be helped by a prevention strategy. • The NCI's Physician Data Query database (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cancerdatabase) is an all-purpose site that summarizes information on prognosis, treatment and clinical trials for all major types of adult and pediatric cancers prepared by groups of academic and federal experts."
• American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/PED_0.asp "This Web site from the American Cancer Society is aimed at the lay audience and provides information on prevention and early detection of individual cancers, with worksheets for men and women, cancer site-specific information for men and women, and advice broken down into either prevention or early detection. This site also discusses occupational and environmental risks, physical activity and diet, and the latest news on cancer research."
• Saving Women's Lives, Strategies for Improving Breast Cancer Detection and Diagnosis: A Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Institute of Medicine Symposium (National Academies Press, 2005)
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11156.html "Women with breast cancer comprise the largest group of cancer survivors because of factors intrinsic to the disease, improving treatments, and, in particular, early detection by screening mammography. This small book of presentations by breast cancer experts looks at the biology, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer. It includes information on racial and ethnic differences in the disease and its early detection and treatment, biomarkers, and the status of mammography in the U.S."
• The Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention
Http://www.yourcancerrisk.harvard.edu This site provides a good way for anyone -- but especially those over 40 who have never had cancer -- to participate in an interactive assessment of their risk of getting any of 12 of the most common cancers. The site gives prevention tips tailored to your risk profile as well as summaries of these leading cancers and their potential for prevention. While it doesn't tell you whether you will or will not get cancer, it will tell you your risk and suggest ways of focusing prevention efforts and minimizing risk. This site has a lot of information and useful links to other informative sites.
• Informed Decisions, 2nd Edition, The Complete Book of Cancer Diagnosis, Treatment, and Recovery, (American Cancer Society, 2002)
"This book written especially to inform the lay person has information about early detection and testing in the context of a comprehensive look at cancer from a discussion of its causes and risks, signs and symptoms, detection and diagnostic tests, to question surrounding treatment strategies and living with cancer. It also includes overviews of specific cancers. This may be more than is needed for those specifically interested in cancer prevention and early detection, but presenting this kind of information in a user-friendly format with some simple graphics provides readers with a helpful overall perspective."
• Cancer Prevention and Management Through Exercise and Weight Control. McTiernan A. (CRC Press LLL, 2005, in press)
In the area of weight and physical activity Anne McTiernan is an editor of a new book for the lay public that will be published in November. Write to the Online Journal's editors at newseditors@wsj.com |