Medicine: Capsules, Dec. 8, 1975

> When a dinner partner suddenly begins choking on a piece of food, people generally shy away from sticking their fingers down the victim's throat to remove the obstruction. But that is not the best technique anyway. The most effective emergency treatment is one worked out by Dr. Henry Heimlich of The Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati and recently endorsed by both the American Medical Association and the American Red Cross. Standing in back of the victim, the rescuer reaches both arms around him, makes a fist and grasps it with the other hand. Then, placing the thumb side of that fist against the victim's abdomen above the navel but below the rib cage, the rescuer presses his fist sharply upward. This elevates the diaphragm and compresses the lungs, increasing the air pressure within the windpipe and forcing the food particle out like a cork from a champagne bottle. Since Heimlich began popularizing it a year and a half ago, his hug of life has been used on some 374 potential choking and drowning victims—one only nine months old. All survived.

> The number of cancer deaths in the U.S. is rising faster than it has in decades. That is the discouraging finding of the National Center for Health Statistics, which has reported a 5.2% jump in the mortality rate per 100,000 in the first seven months of 1975. In past years the rate had increased at a steady 1%. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., too, has noted the rise: the death rate among its policyholders for the first half of this year is up 6%, compared with a previous annual rise among policyholders of about 1%. Some experts suggest that the jump may be a fluke—the result of changes in the way cancer death statistics are collected. Others believe it is an indirect result of a drop in the mortality rate from heart disease, leaving more people susceptible to death from cancer. Whatever the cause of the sudden rise, lung cancer must take a large share of the blame. The American Cancer Society reports that lung cancer next year will kill an estimated 65,200 men and 18,600 women—2,800 more victims than this year. Ironically, unlike many other forms of the disease, lung cancer is largely preventable. At least 80% of the cases appear to be the direct result of cigarette smoking.