Based on the great success of the Essentials for Clinicians book series, focusing so far mostly on distinct solid cancer entities, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) has decided to extend this series further, presenting now the “Leukaemia & Myeloma” Essentials. This volume is published at the right time, as we are facing tremendous progress not only in understanding the biology but also in the clinical management of these diseases. Based on increasingly refined molecular diagnostics and accessibility to a plethora of new drugs targeting specific surface proteins or signal transduction pathways, personalised treatment is no longer only a vision but takes place in our daily clinical life. However, this great success substantially diversifies treatment approaches. In this situation, books such as this Essentials for Clinicians, which presents basic knowledge as well as deeper insight into novel therapeutic developments, are of immense value. Besides acute leukaemias and multiple myeloma, this volume also covers chronic myeloid leukaemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, myeloproliferative neoplasms and amyloidosis, thereby providing a comprehensive overview about leukaemias and myeloma as well as related or associated diseases. It informs the reader about biology, classification and treatment, including symptomatic therapy and management of complications. The concept to divide information into “What every oncologist/haematologist should know” and “More advanced knowledge” is brilliant and through this will address young as well as advanced haematologists/oncologists.
This Essentials for Clinicians, edited by the internationally recognised experts Drs Veronika Ballová, Michele Ghielmini and Meletios-Athanasios Dimopoulos, is an asset for the clinician dealing with haematological malignancies and will help to care for our patients in an optimal way.
Professor Christian Buske
Ulm, Germany
