Foreword

The MD Anderson Manual of Medical Oncology, third edition, articulates the personalized, multidisciplinary approach to cancer management pioneered by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. This approach has contributed to our ranking as number one in cancer care in 11 of the past 14 years in the US News & World Report's “America's Best Hospitals” survey. Our unique perspective has evolved from decades of clinical practice and research with more than a million patients treated. The book is designed to bring a pragmatic approach to cancer management that may serve as a guide for oncologists around the world. The text reflects how MD Anderson currently operates, including many patient care practices that would not have been recognized by practitioners just a decade ago. In a single year, 96,500 people with cancer–33,200 of them new patients–seek care at MD Anderson. Since the first edition, we have improved our ability to identify biomarkers that are predictive for survival, a major triumph in medical oncology that is demonstrated throughout the text.

The current edition emphasizes and discusses recent developments in precision medicine and immunotherapies.

Reflecting new advances in our approach to cancer management, the third edition of The MD Anderson Manual of Medical Oncology features several new chapters. For example, there are new chapters on important aspects of stem cell transplantation: cord blood transplant, haploidentical stem cell transplantation, and cellular therapy in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. In addition, new chapters on pediatric cancers, molecular biomarkers and cancer, immuno-oncology, targeted therapies in cancer, applied biostatistics, oncocardiology, pulmonary complications of cancer therapy, and cancer-associated thrombosis have been added.

To help clinicians quickly assess cancer management options, every chapter includes abundant tables, diagrams, and imaging photos. These include, for example, treatment algorithms and decision trees developed at MD Anderson for specific cancers or disease subtypes; promising novel therapy targets and the latest clinical trial phase of drugs targeting them; and new molecular therapies recommended to overcome resistance to previously effective therapies.

The new era of novel personalized, targeted therapeutics has also sparked the recent evolution of another crucial advancement in management of metastatic disease: the transition from sequential care culminating in the sole delivery of palliative care, to integration of ongoing active disease treatment with simultaneous interdisciplinary symptom control, palliative care, and rehabilitation to improve quality of life. Clinicians at MD Anderson no longer approach advanced metastatic disease management with palliative care goals alone; now, these patients are often offered frontline cancer treatment and the opportunity to participate in clinical trials for investigational drugs.

In recognition of the growing pool of patients who are surviving their cancer, MD Anderson has greatly expanded programs for cancer survivors since the publication of the first edition.