Foreword

I was delighted when I received a request by Dr. Tamara Kalir to write a foreword for this e-book because of my admiration of the leading research conducted by her and her colleagues in ovarian cancers at Mount Sinai Hospital in the past two decades. This book covers a range of topics with a novel juxtapositioning of topics as diverse as: conventional oncology approaches, psychiatric considerations, and the role of belief in healing with commentaries by alternative practitioners.

This book starts with an in-depth overview by Dr. Jamal Rahaman, a leading gynecologic oncologist, on the current management of ovarian cancer, including surgery and chemotherapy that additionally discusses the prospects of emerging therapies inclusive of such entities as immune-modulation and cancer vaccines. Both the clinicians and pathologists would find informative the second chapter by Jessica Beyda, M.D., and Sedef Everest, M.D. on the pathology of ovarian cancer: detailing the various histologic types of epithelial ovarian cancer including low- and high-grade serous carcinoma, mucinous carcinoma, clear cell carcinoma, endometrioid carcinoma; their symptoms, gross pathologic findings, tumor histology, immunohistochemical features available for arriving at the diagnosis, molecular features and prognosis. Also, a discussion on pathogenesis of ovarian cancer with details of key genes and serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma is presented. Each entity is illustrated by digital photomicrographs, for a total of sixty-nine labeled full-color pictures. Chapter 3 written by Stave Kohtz, Ph.D., further details the molecular pathogenesis of the various ovarian epithelial cancers per the dualistic model (Type I and Type II cancers), including discussion of: TP53, BRACA 1 and 2, PTEN, KRAS,CTNNB1, ARID1A, SWI/SNF, KLF5, CCNE1 and others, microRNAs, and concludes with mention of future pathways for targeted therapy. Gonzalo Carrasco-Avino, M.D. gives a step-by-step demonstration in Chapter 4, on how to utilize Public Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets and apply a Functional Genomics approach to study gene interactions of high-grade serous carcinoma in canonical pathways, in silico analysis activation of these pathways, and how chemotherapeutic drugs potentially affect them. Chapter 5 written by Jacob Appel, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., discusses the psychological aspects of healing in ovarian cancer, including psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety, demoralization, delirium; complicating factors such as loss of fertility, pain, fatigue; cosmetic issues; burnout in caregivers, treatments, and end-of-life considerations. The closing chapter written by Tamara Kalir, M.D., Ph.D., gives an historic overview of practitioners and their practices to explore the role of belief in the healing process, citing experiments on the placebo and nocebo effects, and mind-body interaction, with quotes from a diverse range of healers ranging from medical doctors to medical intuitive.

The material presented herein is current and is helpful, informative and inspiring. Clinicians, researchers and laypersons will find the information in this book invaluable to their work, research, and care for their patients and loved ones.