EARLY DETECTION OF CANCER

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27466, 28 September 1954, Page 12

EARLY DETECTION OF CANCER

American Methods Described ANNUAL VISIT TO DOCTOR URGED

In many cases cancer was a curable disease if it could be detected early and attacked aggressively, said Dr. Brewster S. Miller, director of professional education for the American Cancer Society, in Christchurch yesterday. The tragedy of it in the United States was that too much cancer was not detected until it was well advanced, said Dr. Miller. It was known that with early detection seven out of 10 cases of breast cancer could be cured, but at present in the United States only three out of 10 were being cured. Cancer of the larynx could be cured in 85 per cent, of all cases, but the current cure rate was only 15 per cent because people

with a hoarseness of the throat—the initial sign of the disease—often treated it themselves for months before they consulted a doctor. Cancer of the womb was known to be curable in 75 per cent, of cases, but in the United States only 35 per cent, of sufferers were cured.

“In an effort to try to turn back the clock we have done a number of things to teach people a positive approach to the more common types of cancer, instead of waiting for symptoms of the disease to develop,” said Dr. Miller. “We are urging all men and women to visit their doctor at least once a year to undergo a medical examination. We want people to go along when they are fit and well so that the doctor has a chance to detect the disease when the cancer is small and curable. This is straight, out .and out, preventive medicine. We want to get it early when the chances of cure are excellent.”

Women were being encouraged to undertake self-examination oi the breasts. If in the course of these examinations they discovered small, firm lumps—in two out of three cases that did not mean a woman was a sufferer from cancer—or some other abnormality, and if it was found to be cancer the disease would be detected at a time when the possibilities of cure were good.

A technique developed by Dr. George N. Papanicolaou, of Cornell University, which was becoming increasingly popular, was the examination of smears under the microscope for cells exfoliated in normal body fluids. Most of this work was done in connexion v/ith cancer of the uterus, he said, and one of the difficulties with it was to have enough technicians to interpret the smears.

Lung Cancer Only seven to 12 per cent, of cancer of the lung was cured, said Dr. Miller, mainly because people did not go to their doctors till the tumours were too far advanced. A means of early detection was through routine X-ray examination of the chest for the smallest shadow on the X-ray plate which indicated the beginning of cancer. Such an examination had been undertaken by the National Tuberculosis Association and the Department of Health to trace tuberculosis, but it had been limited mainly to the younger age groups. His society was now seeking to work out a programme, in co-opera-tion with other, groups, to extend the examination over a wider segment of the population. ' Dr. Miller said that in the United States 45 per cent, of all cancer was confined to the stomach, lung, the breast, and the uterus.

In New Zealand under the auspices cf the Auckland division of the British Empire Cancer Campaign Society, Dr. Miller arrived in Christchurch yesterday morning. In the afternoon he spoke to the executive and the finance committee of the Canterbury division of the society about the work of his society, and last evening he addressed doctors on recent changes in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in the United States of America. Today he will fly to Sydney.