Cancer Rehabilitation A Concise and Portable Pocket Guide

Finally, a concise pocket guide designed as a quick reference for busy clinicians who seek to improve the care they provide to cancer patients and cancer survivors.  It is a comprehensive text formatted for fast access to a wide range of clinical information. This compact compendium is conveniently organized by cancer type for rapid review. It describes the many issues that cancer patients may face throughout the chronologic spectrum of care, starting from cancer diagnosis, to treatment, and survivorship. 

Each chapter helpfully highlights common impairments and treatment options using succinct tables, helpful illustrations and clinical peals from experts in the field. In addition, each chapter contains a clinical case and questions on the material to enhance understanding. Evidence for exercise treatment, including pertinent exercise precautions, is included, as are innovative research topics and emerging treatments. This includes dedicated chapters covering cancers of the breast; digestive organs; brain, eye, and central nervous system; urinary tract and genital organs; lip, oral cavity, and pharynx; lymphoid, hematopoietic, and related tissues; bone, articular cartilage, and soft tissues; respiratory and intrathoracic organs; skin. 

Thankfully, advances in cancer care such as chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery mean that more people than ever before are surviving long after their cancer diagnosis. Unfortunately, a large fraction of them live with at least one serious impairment as a consequence of their treatments that seriously impacts their ability to function and quality of life. This concise and essential guide to cancer rehabilitation will help the clinician navigate the care of this often complex population.

Introduction: Impairment-based Cancer Rehabilitation by Type of Cancer

Jennifer Baima MD, Orthopedics and Physical Rehabilitation, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA

Ashish Khanna MD, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, The Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, West Orange, NJ, USA

Dr. Baima is board-certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as well as Electrodiagnostic medicine. After residency training, she worked at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in outpatient musculoskeletal medicine and taught at Harvard Medical School for seven years before coming to the University of Massachusetts in 2013 to start a cancer rehabilitation program. She has written over twenty peer reviewed articles and over ten book chapters as well as the book, Sports Injuries. As full time academic clinical faculty, she teaches and lectures on diverse topics in musculoskeletal medicine and has performed three clinical trials in cancer rehabilitation. She lectures on prehabilitation nationally and internationally.

Dr. Ashish Khanna completed his residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Kingsbrook Rehabilitation Institute in Brooklyn, NY, where he became interested in treating cancer patients early on. He completed a fellowship in Cancer Rehabilitation at Medstar Georgetown University Lombardi Cancer Center and the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, DC. He is now an Assistant Attending physician in Cancer Rehabilitation at Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation and an Assistant Professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He specializes in the identification and treatment of neuromuscular, musculoskeletal and other survivorship issues resulting from cancer and cancer treatments and is pioneering the development of treatments for these conditions. Dr. Khanna is a regular consultant at several tumor boards in cancer centers throughout northern New Jersey. He is a tremendous advocate for ensuring that cancer survivors have access to the rehabilitation services needed to maximize their function and quality of life. Dr. Khanna has authored numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed scientific articles on the topic of cancer rehabilitation. Additionally, he speaks regularly at national and international meetings, and has been interviewed for several podcasts covering key topics in his field.