Dr Susan Love’s Breast Book: Not the Best Book on Breast Cancer After All

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at 7:04 pm

For a book that is supposed to be the best book to use on breast cancer, Dr Susan Love’s Breast Book falls short in many important areas. I am not saying that one should not read it. It may help to know what to expect ahead of time, though .

The first problem of the book is easy to spot. There is way too much time spent on basic breast anatomy and development, and not enough on the information that is immediately helpful to someone who has been newly diagnosed with breast cancer. The fact is, no one wants to wade through a bunch of non-essential material in order to find the answers to their most pressing questions. Particularly when one’s life hangs in the balance.

The next difficulty lies in the fact that the book was published only as recently as 2005. Surely the survival and mortality statistics the author quotes are outdated by now. The speed of medical advances in areas such as chemotherapy, antibodies, and hormonal therapy is usually a lot more swift than can be measured in five year increments. Because of this, there are no good statistics on ten-year survival rates.

Worse yet, the author only dedicates one paragraph to guiding women on how to interpret the statistics! How are they supposed to prepare to live well and fight hard when they are left with feelings of resignation and fear?

In addition, descriptions of rare complications of surgery and recurrence are given too much space. Instead of focusing on the facts on which to base decisions, Dr Love belabors how many lives have been lost and the imperfections of the medical system. Again, to a woman looking for information right now: not necessary.

Even when Dr. Love does have some good information for the reader about how dangerous chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery can be, she still recommends it wholeheartedly. Even though she says herself that 2-9% of non-metastatic women experience benefits from chemotherapy and that these three treatment options carry devastating and often permanent side effects!

I think I would be wary of any healthcare provider who offers that kind of advice. After all, she is still a doctor, and has a very cold, calculating way of assessing the treatment plans.

Again, I am not saying that no one should read the book. Dr Susan Love’s Breast Book contains a respectable amount of material on breast cancer. But most women need real advice on what to do next, what will happen next, and how to detect (and prevent) recurrences.

Looking for practical information about preventing breast cancer in yourself and the women you love? Visit the preventing breast cancer page on Holistic-Medicine-MD. Better yet, check out the book Breast Cancer: Reduce Your Risk With Foods You Love by Dr. Robert Pendergrast.

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