Many changes have happened since the publication of the first edition of Oral Cancer in 2003. The editors have lost their pre-eminent histopathologist, Professor John Batsakis, during the intervening years, but the addition of Professor Paul Speight from Sheffield, UK, to the contributors has maintained excellence in the pathology section. Epidemiology has changed in the developed world through the success of tobacco cessation, with a stabilisation of incidence. However, the incidence of oral cavity cancer remains high, or on the increase, in Asia, due to a combination of tobacco, alcohol and areca nut consumption. A major epidemiological change has occurred in the incidence of oropharyngeal cancer worldwide, associated with the human papilloma virus, and hence the editors have expanded the title of this volume.

The format of the volume has been retained as three parts: pathology and biology, clinical management, and outcomes and follow up, adding new depth in the chapters on diagnosis, pathology and molecular biology. The editors, in their preface, justify the need for a second edition, dated 2017, and the chapter authors have cited the most recent relevant literature, while at the same time retaining much of the relevant material from the first edition. The chapters have been authored by institutional experts from The Department of Head and Neck Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, The Australian Centre for Oral Oncology Research & Education at The University of Western Australia, The School of Dentistry and Oral Health at Griffith University, Queensland, and The Department of Pathology, University of Chicago, as well as contributors from other parts of the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, India, Israel and Sri Lanka, in all a team of 42 authors.

Part I, on pathology and biology, includes 5 chapters – epidemiology, aetiology and risk factors, clinical features and diagnosis, histopathology, and molecular pathology, and runs for some 230 pages (43 per cent) of the book. Sadly, the chapter on epidemiology has not included the most recent work from GLOBOCAN 2012 on the world incidence of oral and pharyngeal cancers, published in 2017. The chapter on aetiology and risk factors (75 pages, with 730 references) is very comprehensive and worth reading.

Part II, on clinical management, is composed of 13 chapters covering all facets of patient evaluation, choice of treatment, surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, complications, reconstruction and palliation, and runs for 205 pages (38 per cent) of the book. Eleven of these chapters are authored by staff from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This part reviews the standard surgical and non-surgical approach to patient care, and has been expanded to include the use of robotic surgery for oropharyngeal cancers.

Part III, on outcomes and follow up, is composed of five chapters, four of which are supported by data and views reflecting the practice of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centers. The final chapter, on the prevention of oral and oropharyngeal cancer, is authored by a group of world experts led by Professor Newell Johnson, and represents a comprehensive review of ‘where we are’, supported by 289 published references.

The production is of an excellent quality, but sadly appears to have taken some 18 or more months to get from final submission, typesetting and to print. The book contains many clinical, surgical and histopathological coloured figures, graphs and tables, which enhance the information and readability of each chapter.

This book remains timely and appropriate for all clinicians, surgical and non-surgical, clearly documenting the state of the art of modern-day diagnosis, treatment and management of patients who present with an oral and/or oropharyngeal cancer. This volume should be available for reference in all cancer centres that treat patients presenting with head and neck cancer.