REPORT OF CANCER CONFERENCE

Hokitika Guardian, 12 January 1929, Page 6

REPORT OF CANCER CONFERENCE

RADIUM AND SURGERY. REVIEW OF SUGGESTIONS. The official report of the International Gonfcrcenco on Cancer, held in London in July last and organised by the British Cancer Campaign, is published in a volume of nearly 600 pages. The report is divided into sections according to the subjects discussed, and the vast mass of information collected is classified. The editor of the report is Prolessor Archibald Leitch, of the Cancer Hospital, London. The substance of many of the papers was published when the conference was held. Profsesor Janies Ewing (New York), in his opening paper in the discussion, insists that cancer is to be regarded more as a group of diseases than a single disease. His address is followed by communications from the foremost authorities on cancer in Europe and America, and while there is a certain amount of diversity of opinion on subsidiary points, all seem to agree in believing that cancers are not caused by some single invariable casual agent, hut that different causes operate in different cases. The capacity of tar and petroleum products to originate cancer began with the old cases of chimney sweep’s cancer, and in this petroleum age the study of L.iese agents lias developed into one ol the most fruitful chapters in experimental research,” says Professor Ewing. “It has been shown that coal-tar extracts produce cancer with greater certainty than any other known irritant.”

Observing that some irritants excite not reach the stage of cancer for a long period, Professor Ewing adds that a similar slowly progressive action is probably at work in cases following excessive use of tobacco, which may develop successive cancers long after the victim abandons the tobacco habit. Tbe view is further expressed by Professor Ev.ing that one will hardly err in accepting the conclusion of the older clinicans that cancer of the mouth would disappear if tobacco, had teeth and venereal disease could be eliminated.

Apart from the search for principal factors, scientific investigators are endeavouring to discover the essential changes in the tissue cells that take place when they become cancerous. The “growth substance” which is presumed to exist in cancerous cells has, according to the editor of the report, so far escaped analysis. Dealing with this particular question, Professor Leitcli and Mr James 13. Murphy (New York) sought in their contributions to the con ference to elucidate the nature of the substance responsible for a certain cancerous tumour of fowls. Both have succeeded, it is stated, in disproving the notion that this is a virus (or living agent) and in showing that it is something in the nature of a ferment. Whether this discovery may lead to a solution of the nature of the growth substance of cancer cells in man and other mammals is for further research to decide. RADIUM AND SURGERY. From the practical point of view the most fruitful discussion was that on the relative values of radium and surgery in the treatment of cancer. “It cannot be said that we have yet the data which permits - of an accurate comparison, nor was such attempted by the experts who discussed the questions,'’ said Professor Leitcli in an interview, “hut it is remarkable that the time has come when such a comparison can he considered. Within very few years the perfection of radium technique has achieved such triumphs in cancer that one is very hopeful of its triumphs in the future. “With the relatively large quantities of radium at the disposal of certain well-known Continental and Europea clinics, the representatives from these institutes were able to bring forward most convincing evidence of the efficacy of radium, and in this country, where, unfortunately, only very minute amounts of radium are available, mud useful corroborative evidence and suggested advances have been supplied by British workers. 1

“Sui'gical operations will not he superseded for many years, but radium has come to stay. Already certain cancers, such as those of the tongue and month, and cancers of the uterus, arc lieing treated for preference by radium, whilst others are being treated by radium combined with surgery. The development of this treatment is tho cry of to-dav, and the supply of radium to the workers would be a welcome gift of humanity.”

LEAD TREATMENT. Regarding a discussion on the lead treatment of cancer, Proiosxor Lei tel said:— “It is.the dream of every investigator to discover some chemical, or biochemical, substance which, when introduced into the body, would .specially select and destroy the cancer ec”s without harm to the rest of the economy. Literally thousands of such substances have been tried in our laboratories, but none of them promised much hope. For several years workers in Liverpool have investigated tho acti 111 on cancer of preparations of colloidal lead, and have been convinced of its efficacy. Unfortunately, the discussion failed to reveal much support for this particular mode of treatment, and it was unsparingly condemned by some of those in England and America who had given it a serious trial,”

As to the desirability of early diagnosis stressed in the report, Professor Leitcli pointed out that the most successful blood test so far is accurate only for some 75 per cent, of cases, and was not to ho depended upon in obscure cases. Though the modern surgical 'development met with gratifying success in cases of cancer of the stomach, the tendency in the future would he to operate on stomach lesions before they had actually developed into cancer. Concerning cancers arising in people in certain occupations, an autnomativc paper was contributed by medical inspectors of factories from the Home Office, dealing itli cancer of chimney sweeps, tar workers, oil distillers, cotton spinners, and dye workers. An extraordinary occupational disease was reported from Germany—namely, cancer of the lung in miners engaged in the the cohalt mines of Saxony, where the incidence is extremely high, and is due to the inhalation of particles of the ore. “The occupational cancers,” observed Professor Leitcli, “furnish us with a means of studying experimentally the production of cancer by known agents, and provide a field in which preventive measures can he developed.” Mr A. H. Southern (Manchester), points out that mule spinners’ cancer is a most favourable type of malignant growth for surgical treatment. “It i ? essential,” lie says, “that all warts and palillomatn seen on tlio skin in mule spinners should he regarded as potentially malignant.” Operative treatment at an early stage of mule spinners’ cancer is a simple procedure, and is followed by a lasting cure. He advocates educating the workers to pay prompt' regard to any warts or small sores on the skin. Regarding the prevalence and radical distribution of cancer Professor Leitcli makes the comment that from time to time it is proclaimed that cancer is markedly on the increase, or that some race or other is comparatively free from cancer, and in these supposed facts various hypotheses have been'built. A reading of the communications printed in the repoiAr reveals that the basis for these assertions is very questionable. The complexity of the statistical position and the difficulties of comparing the cancer mortality from year to year or of one country with another, render a definite pronoucement impossible. The facts are set forth in the papers, but the expert statistician is chary of making interpretations. One of the papers, however, should finally dispose of the prevalent idea that the Jewish raee is less prone to cancer than the other inhabitants of the countries in which they are found.”