CANCER CONTROL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22629, 22 July 1935, Page 10

CANCER CONTROL

A BRIEF FOR SURGERY DR A. S. MOODY'S OBSERVATIONS What may reasonably be construed as an authoritative brief for surgery as a means to the control of the cancer scourge was included in some observations on the subject by Dr A. S. Moody in conversation with a Daily Times reporter on Saturday. Dr Moody has just returned from a seven-months' tour abroad, which included visits to important clinics in Great Britain and on the Continent. Referring to the subject of the treatment of cancer Dr Moody said he had the privilege, through "the courtesy of the director of *one of the largest surgical clinics in Europe, of examining' recently compiled statistics with regard to the treatment of cancer by surgery and also by radio-therapy. They were very interesting but after perusing them he put a direct question to his host. " What line of treatment would you follow if you were treating one of you own family, he asked. "I would operate," was the somewhat reluctant reply.. Dr Moody added that radium properly applied had a very definite use and value in cancer control provided a case came under notice early enough in the development of the disease. Moreover, in inoperable cases and in other special circumstances, it could compete very successfully with surgery.