Medicine: Cancer Army

(See front cover)

Three hundred thousand U. S. women have cancer. Some 80,000 will die of it this year. Some 40,000 need not die of it if they take or have taken advantage of the resources which Medicine has so far marshaled against the nation's second most common cause of death. About six women get cancer to every five men. The most prevalent forms of cancer in women, however, are cancer of the breast and womb, which are the most curable. To bring this message of warning and hope to the 45,000,000 U. S. women was this week the purpose of the American Society for the Control of Cancer's "Women's Army" of 2,000,000 women operate in 39 States under Director Clarence Cook Little. This is the largest movement ever loosed against disease.

More than any other disease, cancer has the imagination of mankind. It slowly, painfully, and science does yet know its causes or mechanism.

Justifiable, therefore, was the emotion which surcharged Dr. Little's war cry last week:

"This is merely the beginning. It will be great fight — a war worth waging. Lives by the thousand will be prolonged or saved—some by aroused personal courage, others by the spread of knowledge to those who need it. There is no longer need to fight cancer alone. Hundreds of thousands will share the burden, understand the sufferings which too long have seared the very soul of men and women. At a time when our country is inclined to develop class, race or creed consciousness or hatreds the menace of a common enemy and the inspiration of fighting it together may have a sorely needed and deeply significant religious and moral force. Research, diagnosis and treatment will all reflect the increased interest and activity.

Doctors will have a better chance of seeing early cancer while its curable. It is a hard tast requiring patience—trench warfare with a vengeance against a ruthless killer. No quarter need be given or asked."

Cancer Problem. A cancer is an abnormal growth which may occur anywhere in the body, which destroys adjoining normal tissue, and which may send portions of itself to take root and grow in distant vital organs.

Investigators have at last got a glimmering of what causes cancer. Some people in herit a susceptibility to the disease. But they do not develop cancer unless some susceptible part of the body is unduly irritated by: 1) carcinogenic chemicals, 2) physical agents (X-rays, strong sun light, repeated abrasions as from a jagged tooth), 3) possibly, biological products produced by parasites. Carcinogenic chemicals occur in coal tar, bile acids, female sex hormone. However, no one under stands the exact way in which any of these causes cancer in those individuals who are susceptible to cancer.

Few general practitioners can recognize the early signs of cancer when they see them. But they have been taught — as the Women's Field Army is out to teach women — to suspect the possibilities of cancer when a sore refuses to heal; when a lump forms in any part of the body, particularly the breast; when the uterus bleeds persistently or irregularly.