The Truth About Breast Cancer Risk Assessment (Hardcover)

~ Alan B. Hollingsworth M.D. (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Why This Book?

Previous books have covered risk factors, but now you can learn how these risks are assembled into a personal profile, and:

Learn why the most popular model for risk assessment can often be the most misleading.
Realize that women without known risk factors are still at a significant risk for developing breast cancer.
Understand how important your personal risk profile becomes when you begin to make other health care decisions.
Appreciate how media-supported studies of risk factors frequently become distorted.
Discover that there are protective factors that can offset risk factors, as well as the option of chemoprevention.
Gaze into a crystal ball and visulaize the future of risk assessment.

About the Author

Alan B. Hollingsworth, M.D. parks his heart in hometown El Reno, Oklahoma, though his career has taken him to Los Angeles and back to Oklahoma City. When his high school alma mater began a program to honor distinguished graduates, Dr. Hollingsworth was selected as a first round draft pick.

Realizing that "first" is not automatically "best", the author strives for both. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oklahoma, he received his M.D. With Distinction from the OU College of Medicine where he was elected First Vice-president of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (actually, denoting "second").

After serving as Chief of Surgery at Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital in Los Angeles, he returned to Oklahoma where he became the first board-certified physician in the state to limit his practice to breast disease, the first to launch a multi-specialty breast center, the first to establish a breast cancer risk assessment program. When genetic testing for hereditary breast cancer became available, his program was among the first in the country to include this service with breast cancer risk assessment. He is also the first to explain, as you will learn in the book, that he's "no expert".

A perennial nominee and winner of teaching awards at the OU College of Medicine, he was recently a finalist for the Stanton L. Young Master Teacher Award. Currently, he serves as Medical Director of the Breast Program at Mercy Health Center, while assisting the Steering Committee of the Oklahoma Breast Cancer Project.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 115 pages
• Publisher: National Writers Press; 1st edition (August 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881001155
• ISBN-13: 978-0881001150
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,723,238 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Truth is Out There, September 25, 2000

By	Richard Lippert (Winter Park, FL United States) - See all my reviews

Dealing with breast cancer or the threat of it has been a way of life in our family. Both my aunts and mother have struggled with this disease. It claimed the lives of my aunts and my mother has one of those incredibly high individual risk assessments that cause us all to pause when it her exam time rolls around.

Whether medical journals or Ladies Home Journal, if it involves breast cancer, breast imaging, breast cancer dectection or treatment, I consume the information with a voracious appitite. Unfortunately, not all of it is worth filtering through but every now and then you hit pay-dirt.

Very recently that happened and would encourage others interested in the subject of breast cancer to read the new book "The Truth About Breast Cancer Risk Assessment", by Alan B. Hollingsworth, M.D. If you have ever wondered about all the data which comes flooding out of breast cancer studies which seem to contradict themselves, or you have been tempted to believe detecting (much less treating) breast cancer can be taught by using the cookie cutter method then this is a must read.

Although the book is crammed full of numbers and rather abstract mathmatical concepts, the reader quickly gains a sense of the deeper underlying message that like the X-Files - the truth is out there BUT you must realize that what you first encounter or are led to believe as true,may not be.

This book is a dose of reality in a world which is far too often looking for a quick a fix and sound bite for the 6 o'clock news about some revolutionary breakthrough in breast cancer which may or may not really be significant.

I consider myself a student on this topic and try to learn as much as I can. Anyone interested in the subject of breast cancer should read this book. You will have a completely new set of skills to filter the data you encounter from this point on.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Won't Find This Information Elsewhere, October 1, 2000

By A Customer

I bought this book because of Dr. Hollingsworth's reputation as a physician and a communicator; I am recommending it because everyone, at some time in her life, will want more information concerning her own... or a loved one's... breast cancer risk. There is good news: It is largely quantifiable.

"My mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer; am I at increased risk? What about my (daughter/sister) ?"

"I am at higher risk of developing breast cancer; what can I do to increase my chances of surviving this disease?"

These are tough questions which until now have too often gone unanswered.

Even if your own identifiable breast cancer risk is minimal, the odds are that you will have a friend or loved one who will be forced to deal with this issue. Given the existing lack of unanimity within the medical community as to even the diagnosis & treatment of breast cancer, it is not surprising that we are faced with such conflicting information about our risk of developing the disease. Highly-touted statistics notwithstanding, there is NO one-size-fits-all answer. When your health is at stake, statistical tautologies are not helpful.

Dr. Hollingsworth's book is written for clinicians as well as lay people. It explains in understandable language what you need to know to make the right choices. This book arms the reader with the knowledge to ask the right questions & the confidence to seek the best alternatives for her own unique situation.

There is a peace of mind to be gained from reading Dr. Hollingsworth's book. It places the mysteries, fables, facts & options re: risk assessment in clear perspective. It answers the question, "What on earth do I do now! "

Once you have read this book, I suspect that you will want to give copies to all the important women in your life.