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Book Review: Advances in Pain Research and Therapy Vol. 2. Pain of Advanced Cancer

Advances in Pain Research and Therapy Vol. 2. Pain of Advanced Cancer. Editors John J. Bonica and Vittorio Ventafridda. Raven Press, New York; $12.40; pp. 736; 245 x 160. This book contains the scientific papers presented, as well as the discussion that followed, at an International Symposium of Pain of Advanced Cancer held in Venice, Italy, on May 24-27, 1978. It is the most comprehensive book available on these subjects and for this reason it should be compulsory reading for any practitioner involved in the treatment of patients with cancer pain. However, it is also patently obvious from the contents of this monograph that the need for more research into this field and the scope of its development are enormous. The book is divided into two parts, 1. Basic Considerations and 2. Management of Pain of advanced cancer. The second part is further divided into 10 subsections. The basic considerations involve the identification and magnitude of the problem in an introduction by Professor Bonica. This is followed by two adequate chapters on the neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and biochemistry of pain and antinociception. There are three chapters discussing the psychological, emotional and behavioural aspects of cancer pain and two chapters devoted to the sociological aspects of cancer pain. The other two chapters in this section are both clinical and concern pain in children with cancer and pain syndromes in patients with cancer, two aspects which are generally ignored by other books on the subject. The remainder or five-sixths of the book is the section Management of Pain of Advanced Cancer. The first six subsections are excellent reviews on this subject and their titles are: 1. Role and limits of Oncologic Treatment of Pain and Advanced Cancer. 2. Psychologic and Sociologic Methods for the Relief of Pain and Advanced Cancer. 3. Systemic Analgesics and Related Drugs. 4. Nerve Blocks. 5. Ablative Neurosurgical Procedures and 6. Augmentative (stimulating) Neurosurgical Procedures. The next three subsections are a repeat of previous reviews in reference to pain in three areas, head and neck, chest and brachial plexus, and visceral and perineal pain. The penultimate section is a review of continuing and terminal care. Although there are seven chapters comprising 60 pages for a tenth of the book discussing the analgetic management of cancer pain it is a pity that there was no summary as to how to use these drugs more effectively. The only other criticism was that there was too much repetition of the same information by the same authors. However, it is an important book and should be in all hospital libraries. C. J. GL YNN