CANCER DANGER SIGNAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12064, 20 July 1917, Page 3

CANCER DANGER SIGNAL.

.WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE

MYSTERIOUS MALADY,

(By JOHN B. HUBER, M.D., in

" Collier's.")

We know some of the causes of cancer ; wo know a great deal about how cancer manifests itself; wo know how a fragment of cancerous tissue looks under the microscope and can thus determine the presence of the disease in tho sufferer's body; but wo do not vet surely know the essential nature ot this malignant growth, which kills one in ten of us in middle life.

Physicians and laboratory workers are hopeful, even sanguine, that the near future may seo the solution of tho age-long cancer mystery and the evolution of a certain cure—one surer, at any rate, than such as now obtains. But for the-present tho cancer situation requires that tho physician shall draw public attention to certain danger signals, by heeding which the lives of at least half thoso eighty thousand who succumb yearly in tho United States to this disease may be saved. Thus, to use the weighty expression of l)r Parker Syms, " what cannot be cured may be prevented " ; and thoso who do not lack the courage to observe tho signals shall not dio if but act with promptitude before the ramification, into regions inaccessible to the surgeon's knife, of " tho crab's" offshoots, all of which must bo removed, with tho malign body itself, for a certain cure to bo established. THE PRECANCEROUS STAGE. What, then, is tho precancerous stageP Weakened bodily conditions and ailments not, in themselves serious, combined with the factor of chronic irritation, mako many susceptible. "Benign" tumors, nob in themselves death-dealing; persistent, ulceration, especially of th« stomach; long-con-tinued inflammations; unrepaired injuries, after blows perhaps, or injuries the recovery from which has been long delayed; abnormal tissue, such as scars or stumps from old wounds or operations ; dragging, gnawing and strengthsapping adhesion within the abdomen and pelvis, especially in women-—such are conditions which must receive the doctor's attention. Every "lump" or sore, however painless, especially ot tho breast, should without delay be examined by the family physician. Every tumor, no matter how innocent it may seem, should, if operable, be referred to tho surgeon for his decision as to whether cancerous infiltration has taken or may take placo in it. All tumors are not cancers, happily—to tho doctor all kinds of swellings, and thcro are at least a score of them, aro classed as tumors—and there are several kinds of cancer, differing in degrees of malignancy and in their courses. _ Superficial cancers, as of the faco and lips, aro reasonably recognisable bv sight, touch and microscopic examination. DEEP-SEATED CANCERS

aro often difficult to detect. Oftentimes the only indication of them is functional disturbance of tho organs involved, perhaps also of associated organs and tissues. Women, especially those after forty, should go without' delay for examinations as to tlio ailments nnd persistent discomforts peculiar to their sex. Men past forty—especially alcoholics, constant smokers, and heavy diners, men who are family breadwinners and those who havo weighty business and communal responsibilities—should see to the preservation of their lives by yearly examiulatiri.ns, just as wo go (or ought }to go) yearly to the dentist ,for the preservation of our teeth. Unlike tuberculosis, which afflicts mostly tho poor, tho starved, the ill-clothed, and tho badly housed, cancer affects with impartiality Dives as well as Lazarus—has indeed rather a penchant for the patrician host. It, respected Tlnser Fritz no moro thaDn the meanest of his subjects, our Grant no more than any clay-pipc-smoking. coal heaver. THE PRIME DANGER SIGNAL. Quo must now see that the chief danger signal by which onfc's active attention should be directed to the cancer peril is the factor of irritation, which, working through months or years, fosters malignancy at its site.

Thus there, comes tho pipe smoker's cancer, on the lip; there used to be tho chimney sweeper's cancer ; there is the cancer of the, tongue from the. jaggfd edge, of an untreated tooth; the throat cancer from fhe inveterato smoking of strong tobacco ; the cancer from radium burns. (How many a martyr in medicine, nursing nnd the allied professions has suffered' thus!) There is the cancer from prolonged exposure, to the sun ; that which has originated in insect bites or by the fastening of parasites upon the intestinal mucous membrane; the cancer from betel-nut chewing in India ; from eating very hot rice, in China. Tho Tibetan natives carry in their tunics, against tho abdomen, a kind of pocket stove, the kankri, tho constant use of which excites a.t the site of the burn the kankri cancer. Function and structure are just as inseparable as mind and matter; therefore prolonged unhealthy functioning is bound sooner or later to lead to diseased structure. That is why persistent anemia (poor blood), nausea, change of colour, indigestion, loss of weight and of strength, bleeding from the stomach, uneasiness, pain or tenderness on pressure below the breastplate should excito apprehension. Pain is considered to indicate cancer and the absence of sensation to remove the occasion of fear; but this were indeed

A BROKEN IIEED TO RELY ON, for even advanced cancers have given no pain. Another classic symptom is supposed to 1)0 the bleeding from the stomach which has a coffee-ground appcarauco by rea.son of the eoroding effect of the acid gastric juice. Here is a sign of late though not necessarily incurable cancer. Where fo re it is now sound doctrine among the faculty that in all cases of men and women over forty with stomach symptoms and rapid emaciation—cases in which there has not been for several weeks response to tho treatment that is generally effective—exploratory opening of tho abdomen be made for a settlement, beyond a peradventure, of tho diagnosis; also that the surgeon should proceed at the time of the operation to the extirpation of any malignant growth that may appear. Tho X-ray is also a most important means ■■■. -■

of diagnosis, when employed in conjunction with others. THE ONLY CURE TO-DAY. The only hope to-day lies in operation, and surgeons have thus cured many patients. The disease is always localised at first; and then its prompt removal gives .the best chance. If the surgeon can act during the pre-cancer-otis stage, so much the better. What, is the percentage of such cures? Sorua operators have demonstrated. 80 per cent. Operations early, and with extension, have given 50 per cent of cures. When complete removal is impossible, operation will work temporary relief, but generally there will be recurrences and no absolute cure. Even in such cases, however, there has been (though very arely) " subsidence of the growth" and an end of <the disease. "But operations are such dreadful things!"' Nonsense. Surgery is nowadays so nearly ideal that the operating table in itself is really a good deal safer in our riotous times than most other pjaces. Though later operations are, of course, extensive, severe, and momentous, operation for the removal of early cancer has a mortality averaging 1 per cent. Let no cancer sufferer delay. Practically all the cases that are let alone end fatally. The earlier the operation the better the hope for success. Let this bo known and wo shall no longer have to rend, statomewts from faithful workers like Mr Lakeman of tho American Society for the Control of Cancer to the effect that, largely because of public ignoranco and neglect, cancer now proves faital in over 00 per cent of the eases.