The Dominion. FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 1935. THE WAR ON CANCER

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 103, 25 January 1935, Page 10

The Dominion. FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 1935. THE WAR ON CANCER

4 Dr. IT. M. Moran’s report on various aspects of the war on cancer in New Zealand is interesting and highly important in that it represents the opinion of an outside observer. JDr.. Moran is consultant for radium at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, in Sydney, and recently toured this country at his own expense in order to acquire first-hand information concerning the progress, of the anocancer campaign here, and the methods employed in carrying it on. It is by this time accepted that cancer is curable if treated m its early stages. Its origins are still undefinable except insofar as the manifestations of its presence have in a large number of cases been found to accord with the presence of some form of celltnai irritation, and this is largely a presumption, since the precise natureof cancerous growths is still an open scientific question. If the causative agent could be discovered it might be possible to discover either a preventive or a curative prophylactic, but medical researc.i can yet claim no more than this: that the best hope of life lies in early diagnosis and the eradication of cancerous growths by timely surgical or. radium treatment. There are many, people alive ano active to-day who can testify to the efficacy of this rule of safety. This aspect of the cancer problem is fully discussed, by. Dr. Moran, but in regard to 'our own measures for dealing with it he is rather critical. If we are to accept his conclusions —which is a question on which laymen must perforce be guided by local expert opinion—we are pursuing in certain hospitals methods from which we cannot hope to obtain the best.results. In this connection it is necessary to distinguish between public hospital treatment and private treatment as ordered and supervised by the patients’ own medical adviser and his surgical colleagues. This country is fortunate, in having in the ranks of its medical profession surgeons and radiologists of high ability and reputation, but it is nevertheless possible that present hospital arrangements for coping with cancer may, upon suggestions such as are implied in Dr. Moran’s criticisms, be considerably improved. It .is after all a question of the means, but on the. other hand humane considerations should transcend all others in a campaign against an insidious disease which accounts for one in seven or eight of our population. It is to be hoped therefore that Dr. Moran’s report will be studied in the spirit in which it is obviously written, as a helpful contribution to the strategy of the. offensive.