Modern medicine has four chief means for eliminating cancer from the body. These are surgical operation, radium, X-ray and new specific drugs. By surgical operations the entire cancerous structure is removed and usually with it the organ that contains the cancer, if that is not a vital organ. Some cases of tumor are especially susceptible to radioactivity. They are called “radiosensitive.” Other types are resistant to the radioactive rays. The X-ray, particularly the modern type of high-voltage, deep-penetrating X-ray, can be used in areas in which radium cannot be implanted and to which radium cannot extend.
This does not mean that every case of cancer can be treated by just one method. Every cancer is different from every other cancer. The doctor must decide in each instance the forms of treatment that will be most helpful. In some instances not only surgery, X-ray, and radium are employed but also other techniques. The female sex hormone or estrogens are used in the control of cancer of the prostate. All over the United States studies were made under the direction of the Therapeutic Trials Committee of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association to determine whether or not testosterone, the male sex hormone, is valuable in treating cancer of the breast. Apparently it is helpful in preventing spread from cancer of the breast to other portions of the body.
With cancer of the breast early attention is vital. If a cancer of the breast comes to proper medical attention within the first few months the woman can have practically her normal life expectancy. If she delays to the time when the cancer has extended to the glands under the arm her life expectancy may be greatly reduced. Studies made of thousands of cases of cancer of the breast prove with certainty that early attention prolongs life. Delay is likely to be fatal.
Not so many years ago a cancer of the lung was invariably fatal. In 1933 a surgeon for the first time removed an entire lung by operation, because of the presence of cancer. The patient was another doctor. That patient is still alive. Today there are hundreds of people throughout the United States who have had all or part of a lung removed and who have survived the operation successfully. Thus what was an invariably fatal condition now yields in a considerable percentage of cases to modern methods of treatment, and patients recover. Similarly, cancer of the stomach was formerly considered invariably fatal. The percentage of recoveries in cases that are diagnosed early and that submit to proper surgical treatment is considerable. Unfortunately, far too many wait too long. The prolongation of life includes years which are exceedingly valuable, because these conditions do not generally occur in extremely young people but usually in men and women at the top of their productive periods.
Drugs called nitrogen mustards and other drags that stop cell growth are now available for use against cancer. All are powerful and can be used only as prescribed by the doctor. A drug called methatrexate is specific and saves lives in cases of choriocarcinoma, a cancer of tissues involved in childbirth. Sarcolycin and actinomycin D have been used against other forms of cancer.
The death rate for cancer is still high. The new knowledge that may come through research may even serve to prevent the appearance of cancer among great numbers of people whose fathers or mothers or ancestors may have had cancer and died of it and who therefore form something resembling a stock or type in which cancer is more likely to occur than among the population generally.
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TREATMENT OF CANCER: MEANS TO ELIMINATE DISEASEModern medicine has four chief means for eliminating cancer from the body. These are surgical operation, radium, X-ray and new specific drugs. By surgical operations the entire cancerous structure is removed and usually with it the organ that contains the cancer, if that is not a vital organ. Some cases of tumor are especially susceptible to radioactivity. They are called “radiosensitive.” Other types are resistant to the radioactive rays. The X-ray, particularly the modern type of high-voltage, deep-penetrating X-ray, can be used in areas in which radium cannot be implanted and to which radium cannot extend.This does not mean that every case of cancer can be treated by just one method. Every cancer is different from every other cancer. The doctor must decide in each instance the forms of treatment that will be most helpful. In some instances not only surgery, X-ray, and radium are employed but also other techniques. The female sex hormone or estrogens are used in the control of cancer of the prostate. All over the United States studies were made under the direction of the Therapeutic Trials Committee of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association to determine whether or not testosterone, the male sex hormone, is valuable in treating cancer of the breast. Apparently it is helpful in preventing spread from cancer of the breast to other portions of the body.With cancer of the breast early attention is vital. If a cancer of the breast comes to proper medical attention within the first few months the woman can have practically her normal life expectancy. If she delays to the time when the cancer has extended to the glands under the arm her life expectancy may be greatly reduced. Studies made of thousands of cases of cancer of the breast prove with certainty that early attention prolongs life. Delay is likely to be fatal.Not so many years ago a cancer of the lung was invariably fatal. In 1933 a surgeon for the first time removed an entire lung by operation, because of the presence of cancer. The patient was another doctor. That patient is still alive. Today there are hundreds of people throughout the United States who have had all or part of a lung removed and who have survived the operation successfully. Thus what was an invariably fatal condition now yields in a considerable percentage of cases to modern methods of treatment, and patients recover. Similarly, cancer of the stomach was formerly considered invariably fatal. The percentage of recoveries in cases that are diagnosed early and that submit to proper surgical treatment is considerable. Unfortunately, far too many wait too long. The prolongation of life includes years which are exceedingly valuable, because these conditions do not generally occur in extremely young people but usually in men and women at the top of their productive periods.Drugs called nitrogen mustards and other drags that stop cell growth are now available for use against cancer. All are powerful and can be used only as prescribed by the doctor. A drug called methatrexate is specific and saves lives in cases of choriocarcinoma, a cancer of tissues involved in childbirth. Sarcolycin and actinomycin D have been used against other forms of cancer.The death rate for cancer is still high. The new knowledge that may come through research may even serve to prevent the appearance of cancer among great numbers of people whose fathers or mothers or ancestors may have had cancer and died of it and who therefore form something resembling a stock or type in which cancer is more likely to occur than among the population generally.*5/318/5*