Book Review

  • Moni Abraham Kuriakose
2017, Springer price €93.59 pp 322 ISBN 9783319149165 | ISBN: 978-3-3191-4916-5

Moni Kuriakose has adopted an impressive and far reaching multicentre and multi-author approach in this comprehensive reference text on oral oncology. Aimed at oral cancer specialists and their trainees, this is the second of four volumes.

Kuriakose and his team delve deep into every imaginable aspect of diagnosis and management of oral cancer over 11 chapters. Each chapter has been carefully compiled to follow a methodical timeline over the course of a potential patient's journey, starting with examination, imaging and staging, surgical and non-surgical management and ending with aftercare and management of complications.

The text is digestible through the use of handy subsections, but remains extremely detailed by drawing upon a plethora of studies and evidence-based general oncology knowledge. There is effective use of annotated diagrams and clinical photographs throughout, allowing the reader to envisage the practical application of the text. This includes head and neck anatomy, various techniques for oral access through the maxilla and mandible, and lymph node biopsy techniques. When studies are to be compared or if there is a large amount of information in one section to digest, the author has also provided concise tables to summarise the information which are extremely useful as a quick reference point.

Kuriakose's vision is to have a one stop text for diagnosis and management of oral oncology and I believe he may have surpassed his own expectations. The book is a densely packed oral cancer manual. I feel like the text is possibly too in-depth and technical for dental foundation trainees and senior house officers in the British medical and dental system, who may have limited experience of specialised imaging and adjuvant therapy. However, in light of this, trainees, especially those attending multidisciplinary team meetings, are given an opportunity to build a solid base of information and understand such meetings should they read this book. For oral and maxillofacial surgeons in training the exhaustive amount of information available would be of tremendous use, plus the fact that the book is compact and transportable makes it ideal for revision and reading, especially in the first years of their training programme. I would therefore recommend this book for those specialising or have a speciality interest in oral and maxillofacial surgery and oral cancer.

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