Interventional Oncology

Interventional Oncology

Peter R. Mueller Andreas Adam

Editors

Interventional Oncology

A Practical Guide for the Interventional Radiologist

Editors Peter R. Mueller Department of Radiology Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA, USA pmueller@

Andreas Adam Department of Radiology St. Thomas' Hospital London, UK andy.adam@kcl.ac.uk

ISBN 978-1-4419-1468-2

e-ISBN 978-1-4419-1469-9

DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-1469-9

Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011941010

? Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of going to press, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

Printed on acid-free paper

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Preface

It took us a few years to get used to the words "interventional oncology." Both of us have been using interventional radiological methods to treat patients with cancer for the whole of our careers. Over the years, technological advances such as the advent of metallic stents have greatly improved the effectiveness of what we do, prolonging the survival and improving the quality of life of patients with malignant disease. Therefore, as far as we were concerned, we were practising interventional oncology before this discipline had a name.

In recent years, the term interventional oncology has been applied to a set of potentially curative imaging-guided interventional radiological procedures. This is helpful, as the approach to the patients treated using these methods differs in some important respects from the way that interventional radiologists have managed oncology patients requiring palliative treatments such as biliary stenting. The interventional oncologist often assumes the role of the patient's primary physician. It is necessary to explain not only the procedure being offered but also potential alternatives, such as surgery and chemotherapy, and to discuss these with the patient in some depth.

Another challenge facing the interventional oncologist is the pace of development in this field. A plethora of treatment methods has become available, and it is not easy to disentangle theoretical technical advances from substantive clinical advantages.

This book brings together some of the greatest experts in this field around the world. They are all extremely busy people, combining large clinical practices with high-flying academic careers. Most of them are personal friends of one or both of us, and we were shameless in using our friendship to recruit them as authors. Our excuse is the final outcome: this volume is an excellent account of the current state of interventional radiological methods of treating malignant tumors. We have enjoyed reading the chapters and have learned a lot from them. We are confident that our readers will find them equally useful.

Boston, MA, USA London, UK

Peter R. Mueller Andreas Adam

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