1112 BOOK REVIEW

another part of the text (p. 291) to “gargantuan” oper-ations and a world “obsessed with radical surgery.” Theauthor profiles for us in riveting fashion the many errorsin judgment that have contributed to eventual cancertreatments and present-day cures. There have beenmany astonishing setbacks and disappointments frombench research to clinical trials. Clearly the present-daycures for some cancers such as chronic myelogenousleukemia have benefited from various mishaps alongthe way.

The biography of cancer is told through the eyes ofthe author as a medical oncology fellow during histraining at Massachusetts General Hospital. Most im-pressive about this work is not the biographical acumenof Mukherjee the author, who has benefited us throughhis exhaustingly thorough research on the topic, butrather the humanism and compassion of Mukherjee thephysician, who personalizes the history of cancer by

431 pages, $100.00.

hand; local customs; and crafts involving hands, includ-

JHS �Vol A,

Carla is a schoolteacher who contracts acute lympho-blastic leukemia early in the author’s fellowship train-ing. Dr. Mukherjee acquaints the reader early in thebook with her fears and then masterfully parallels muchof the history of acute lymphoblastic leukemia with herloneliness and her pain as well as the excitement of herfirst remission. Other stories are told but unfortunatelyare not as triumphant as Carla’s.

For me, this book is about the fragility of life, thetenacity of cancer, and the hope for a unitary cure. It isthe battle royal. Patient, doctor, and cancer survivorsalike will find The Emperor of All Maladies informativeand challenging, but worth the effort.

Peter M. Murray, MDDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery

Mayo ClinicJacksonville, FL

telling the everyday stories of his patients. For example, doi:10.1016/j.jhsa.2011.03.011

Hand SurgeryWorldwideUrbaniak JR, ed. Levin LS, Baek GH, Soucacos PN, co-eds.Athens: Konstantaras Medical Publications, 2011,

With its small size and relative youth compared withother medical specialties, hand surgery is well posi-tioned for a concise account of its history and develop-ment. This volume, produced by the International Fed-eration of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH),an organization of the hand surgery societies from 50countries, attempts to do just that in commemoration ofthe organization’s upcoming 50th anniversary in 2016.In Hand Surgery Worldwide, modern hand surgery isdescribed as resembling “a tree with leaves, the flow-ering of which is due to the experience of previousdecades. Its roots are the medical activities of earliercenturies.”

The book is divided into 2 parts—History and Clin-ical. The History section is the most interesting and hasa chapter on comprehensive history of the IFSSH inaddition to one on each member country. It appearseach country’s respondents were asked to complete aquestionnaire with questions on the history of handsurgery and their professional society, training, certifi-cation, pioneers, journal, and meetings. Many responsesare accompanied by local illustrations, for instance,artwork; stamps; portraits of notable hand surgeons;hand-related sculpture; a bronze casting of Chopin’s

ing photos of devout Catholics in the Philippines havingthemselves nailed to the cross.

The chapters have interesting comments on injuriesand conditions particular to an area: Puerto Rico and theDominican Republic (machete injuries in sugar caneworkers), India (leprosy), the former Czechoslovakia(glasswork), Finland (lumber), and Hong Kong (Myco-bacterium marinum infections). It was also interestingto note the effects of political changes in these countries(the impact of dictatorship in Dominican Republic onthe availability of hand surgery, the breakup of theCzech and Slovak Hand Society into 2 distinct groupsmirroring the breakup of their country, and the ebbs andflows of the Argentine group with changes in govern-ments).

The differences in training, certification, and primaryspecialty background are detailed. In some countriesmost or all hand surgeons do a full plastic surgerytraining first (Romania and Uruguay), in others trainingis in orthopedic surgery (Venezuela), and others have amixture. Finally, in a few countries, hand surgery has itsown residencies independent of plastic, orthopedic, orgeneral surgery (Sweden and Switzerland). Certifica-tion varies from country to country as well, the most

interesting being Romania, where a candidate pro-

June

BOOK REVIEW 1113

gresses over a 3-day period from written examination tooral examination, followed by surgery on cadavers andlive patients!

We learn of the profound effect of World War II onthe development of hand surgery. Most hand surgeonsin the United States can trace their lineage back throughtheir mentors and their mentors’ mentors to 1 of the 10regional hospitals that focused on the care of upperextremity injuries. Absence of war can have a negativeimpact as well. Because The Netherlands was an occu-pied state during most of the war, without active fight-ing, the Dutch felt that hand surgery was slower todevelop there.

This section suffers from inconsistency in quality ofediting and proofreading. The editors decided “to retain

the individual styles of the author and cultures of the

JHS �Vol A,

country to add a variation of flavors to the text.” How-ever, some authors should have been prodded to pro-vide more information in some areas and less in others.Many of the authors are not native English speakers andtheir chapters should have been revised to enhanceclarity.

The Clinical section is a smorgasbord of 20 presen-tations. There are a few gems here that cannot be foundin the usual texts or journals, such as 200 cases oftoe-to-hand transfer for metacarpal hand from Taiwan,an extensive illustrated discussion of tuberculosis fromMalaysia, and a double free gracilis transfer to restorefunction after brachial plexus injury from Japan. TheJapanese present a different classification of congenitalupper limb differences along with editorial commentsas to its utility. In Malaysia, a hand/arm was trans-planted to a 1-month-old from a nonviable identicaltwin. However, most of the material here does not breaknew ground and is readily available elsewhere.

People in general, and Americans in particular,tend to be egocentric. This book lets us know thatgood care of hand problems, interesting care, andcomplicated care in high volumes is being donearound the world, even in countries of the ThirdWorld, while acknowledging that there are stillopportunities for advancement and improvement.It will also serve as a call to other national soci-eties to join the IFSSH to contribute and sharetheir knowledge, experience, and culture of handsurgery in future years. Not every hand surgeonneeds to own this book, but residencies, fellow-ships, and libraries should have it available for allto peruse from time to time so that we can appre-ciate the wide world of hand surgery, of which weare all part.

Saul Kaplan, MDMidAtlantic Permanente Medical Group

Springfield, VA

doi:10.1016/j.jhsa.2011.03.013

June