Life Over Cancer: The Block Center Program for Integrative Cancer Treatment
Surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy may treat cancer but can also necessitate huge changes in lifestyle and body image and predispose the patient to other diseases, recurrence, and death. Block (medical director, Block Ctr. for Integrative Cancer Treatment) lays out a comprehensive complementary-therapy program designed to enhance conventional treatments, and he provides advice that will better a patient's life and improve chances of a full cure. Block stresses that patients should not abandon traditional medicine and should consult their health-care team before adding less traditional treatments. He details an anticancer diet, with specific recommendations for foods and supplements, as well as exercise plans and spiritual maintenance. Methods of boosting one's immune response while providing a less friendly "bioterrain" for cancer cells are suggested, as are techniques to counteract the ill effects, e.g., nausea and fatigue, of traditional cancer therapies. This dense book may overwhelm some readers, but considering the prevalence of cancer, it's sure to be a popular title.—Janet M. Schneider, James A. Haley Veterans Hosp., TampaCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.