Why Dr Susan Love’s Breast Book Does Not Live Up To Its Distinction as the Foremost Authority on Breast Health

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at 9:35 am

Dr Susan Love’s Breast Book, supposedly the best book to use on breast cancer, is not all that it’s cracked up to be. I am not saying that one should not read it. It may help to know what to expect ahead of time, though .

The number one issue is as plain as the nose on your face. 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. Women who are looking for answers do not want to have to sift through half of the book before they find them. 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 Surely the survival and mortality statistics the author quotes are outdated by now.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.

Even worse than that, the author takes a measly 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, the author belabors how many lives have been lost and the imperfections of the medical system. Once again, superfluous discussion is found where answers are most desperatley needed.

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!

Thanks, but I’ll pass on that advice. At least without a second or third opinion. After all, she is still a doctor, and has a very cold, calculating way of assessing the treatment plans.

It is not that you can’t get some good information from 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.

Be Sociable, Share!