Rare Sarcomas (eBook)

This is a unique book focusing on the management of rare sarcomas, which pose an important challenge in Europe and in the US, as they represent nearly one quarter of all new diagnoses of cancer and have lower survival rates than common cancer. Discussing a range of tumors from clear cell and epithelioid sarcoma to solitary fibrous tumor and myxoid fibrosarcoma, this book provides invaluable expertise according to evidence-based guidelines and uses a patient-centered multi-disciplinary approach.

Each of the chapters discusses the forms of rare sarcomas both from an oncological and a pathological perspective. This book aims to help the sarcoma expert in improving the management, quality of care and outcome for patients with rare tumors, which have now been recognised as a public health priority.

The authors are experts from specialist sarcoma centers focusing on the capacity to develop clinical guidelines, and to foster clinical, translational and epidemiological research for rare cancers.

Dr Christine Chevreau is the head of the sarcoma unit at the Oncopole Toulouse (France) a referral center for the management of sarcomas. Dr Chevreau is board certified in medical oncology and obtained her medical degree from the University of Toulouse in 1985. She is a recognized expert in the field of sarcomas and urological tumors and has been involved as principal investigator or co-investigator in more than 50 clinical trials. She authored or co-authored more than 180 publications including papers as first or last author in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer and the European Journal of Cancer. 

Pr Antoine Itaiano is the head of the Early Phase Trials and Sarcoma Units at Institut Bergonié (Bordeaux, France), national coordinating reference center for the diagnosis and management of sarcomas in France.  Pr Italiano trained as a medical oncologist and obtained the Best Medical Thesis Price from Nice Medical School in 2005.  He gained a PhD degree in Molecular Aspects of Cell Biology in 2008 and completed his training with a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Cristina Antonescu at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer center, New York, USA.  His main research interests are in early clinical development, phase I trials across solid tumors, pharmacodynamic biomarkers, early phase II trials and sarcoma. He is also involved in translational research aspects related to sensitivity and resistance to targeted therapies, notably in soft-tissue sarcoma models. Pr Italiano has been the Principal Investigator of more than 20 phase I trials during the past 5 years as well as a dozen phase II and phase III trials in sarcomas.  Dr Italiano is member of ASCO, AACR, and ESMO. He is peer reviewer for several oncology journals and has contributed to over 150 peer-reviewed publications, including publications as first or last author in the Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research and Annals of Oncology. He mentored since 2008 4 medical students (thesis of medicine), 2 master of science students, and 2 Phd students.