LUNG CANCER

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27988, 7 June 1956, Page 13

LUNG CANCER

New Link With

Smoking

(Rec. 11 p.m.) DETROIT, June 5. Tiny specks of cancer are found in the lungs of cigarette smokers far more often than among non-smokers, a medical team reported today. A study which supported this contention was described to the third national cancer conference by the team. It is headed by Dr. Oscar Auerbach, of the Veterans’ Administration Hospital. New Jersey, Dr. Arthur Purdy Stout, of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Columbia University, and Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond, Director of Statistical Research American Cancer Society.

These cancer specks, and other cell changes that might be forerunners of cancer, were detected by painstaking microscopic examinations at autopsies of 117 men. Dr Auerbach told the conference. Only 16 had never smoked at all, or only irregularly. Thirty-four, all smokers, had died of lung cancer. The other smokers and the nonsmokers died of other causes. The tiny cancers, still localised but potentially capable of spreading, were found six times more frequently in heavy smokers than in non-smokers. After each man’s death, the tracheobronchial tree —the system of air tubes from the windpipe through the lungs—was removed and sliced into 208 specimens or sections and then checked microscopically for signs of tissue changes. Dr. Auerbach said. Only a few sections from non-smokers showed the cancer specks. Mr Timothy Hartnett, of the Tibacco Industry Research Committee. challenged Dr. Auerbach’s conclusions. He said Dr. Auerbach’s statements were “not proof of anything.