AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE PREVENTION AND On October 12, 1923, a group of men, interested in the study of cancer from every rational standpoint, met at the New York Academy of Medicine and organized the "American Association for the Prevention and Cure of Cancer." There were over 60 enrolled from 18 States of the Union and a number from foreign countries, and additional since. The following are the officers: President, DR. L. DUNCAN BULKLEY, New York, N. Y. The Executive Council is composed of the above named officers and two additional members, Dr. Thos. L. Stedman, of New York, and Dr. H. E. Dunlop, of Brooklyn. The members of the various Committees are as follows: On Morphology and Research: DR. OTTO LERCH, New Orleans, La. DR. JACOB GLASS, New York, N. Y. DR. STUART CLOSE, Brooklyn, N. Y. On Clinical Histories and Pathology: DR. C. F. CLAASSEN, Brooklyn, New York. On Program: DR. H. E. DUNLOP, Brooklyn, New York. DR. WM. H. GORDON, Detroit, Mich. DR. EVAN O'NEILL KANE, Kane, Pa. On Publication: DR. L. DUNCAN BULKLEY. DR. PAUL LUTTINGER, New York. DR. S. W. LITTLE, Rochester, New York. On Publicity: DR. R. C. KELSEY, Portland, Oregon. DR. W. H. VAIL, Newark, N. J. DR. W. A. WAKELEY, Orange, New Jersey. The second annual meeting was held at Atlantic City, N. J., May 27, 1925. The third annual meeting will be held in New York City May, 1926. DR. PAUL LUTTINGER, Secretary-Treasurer, 121 East 60th Street, New York, N. Y. TH AND ITS Non-Surgical Treatment BY L. DUNCAN BULKLEY, A.M., M.D. Late Member, American Association for Cancer Research President, American Association for the Prevention and Cure of Cancer, etc. HE aim of this book has been to establish on firm scientific ground the proofs of the constitutional nature of cancer, now so widely accepted, and to illustrate freely the value of this thesis by successful cases. "After reading this book, one can merely express surprise that so much time, money, and personal endeavor are being spent in the search for a cure of cancer along surgical lines, when we have a non-surgical method capable of such results as Bulkley has attained. It were well for every surgeon dealing with cancer, to read and ponder over this work and apply its teachings in his daily practice."New York Medical Journal. "No matter if you do not agree with Bulkley, read what he has to say, for he bases his remarks upon the experience of years, and he, not you, may be right.”— Western Medical Times. "It is hard to see how the practitioner and student can safely pursue his studies without access to this most interesting volume."-Medical Sentinel. "The most interesting and suggestive section of the book is the one on treatment. It should be read without prejudice, and if so read it cannot but give food for thought."-Medical Record. Octavo volume, 466 pages. Price $6.00 net. WILLIAM WOOD & CO., 51 Fifth Avenue, New York By the same Author CANCER OF THE BREAST With a study of two hundred and fifty cases in private practice A complete study of the disease in 336 octavo pages, with forty illustrations. Price $3.50. "Brevity, indeed, upon some occasions, is real excellence.' Cicero, Brut, 13.50. Volume III CANCER JULY, 1926 No. 4 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE MEDICAL TREATMENT OF CANCER * By L. DUNCAN BULKLEY, A.M., M.D. Senior Physician to the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital, Late Member of the American Society for the Control of Cancer, President of the American Assn. for the Prevention and Cure of Cancer, etc. In the previous chapter we have seen how difficult it is to secure accurate statistics in regard to the mortality records of cancer, and unfortunately the United States Mortality Statisties do not help us any, for they do not discriminate as to the character of treatment given, as do those of Switzerland. But the general end results of cancer, in all locations together, is commonly accepted as 90 per cent. deaths of those once attacked, and cancer is usually spoken of as an incurable disease, "once cancer, always cancer until death." We have seen, however, that the end results differ materially according to the five points mentioned in the last chapter, or perhaps others. We all know pretty well, from experience as to the ultimate results of cancer cases which have been submitted to surgery, x-ray, and radium, for family physicians, specialists, and consultants are daily seeing the sad recurrences appearing in 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, and even up to 31 years after such treatment. And only occasionally do we hear of this or that person who has survived any number of years thereafter, so that the laity are pretty well impressed with the futility of cancer operations. *We have included here chapter twenty-six, of our forthcoming work, as it contains elements or thoughts which might be overlooked or ignored by some desiring to follow this plan of treatment as presented in earlier issues of CANCER. THE Editors. The uselessness of x-ray, and the harm often done by this and radium in many cases are also well recognized. An English Governmental Report covering almost 20,000 cases of cancer of the breast, from reports in 17 languages, recently reviewed in the Journal CANCER, Vol. II, No. 3, page 259, gives a pretty gloomy outlook of the end results in operative treatment of the disease in this location, which is quite different from that observed from medical treatment, as will ap pear in later pages. The subject matter of that book, of 156 pages, is considered under 24 heads, with 10 appendices and many interesting but sad tables. Thus in Table I, of 6,077 cases, there were only 1,529 patients, or a trifle over 25 per cent., known to be alive at the end of three years after incomplete operations, and in Table II, after complete operations, all diagnosis being submitted to microscopic control, out of 8,105 patients, only 3,259 or a little over 35 per cent. were alive after three years: how many died later from recurrence is not stated, but we can all surmise! With all this it is to be remembered that several of the most prominent writers on cancer have stated that the average duration of life in cancer of the breast, wholly untreated, is three years or over. The Statistician of the United States Report of Mortality rates from 1910 to 1920, published in 1923, on page 80, comments on the fearful increase in the number of deaths from cancer of the breast, during that period, as follows: "The contention that cancer is only apparently increasing seems no longer tenable. Better diagnoses undoubtedly account for part of the increase, but not for all of it. For example, for females in the registration States of 1900 the adjusted death rate from cancer of the breast was 9.2 per 100,000 female population, while the adjusted rate for 1920 was 16.9, an increase of nearly 84 per cent. In a site so accessible as the breast it is not conceivable that the difference in the above rates could possibly be due to difference in diagnostic power. So to what else could it be due other than to the rabid eagerness of the surgeons for operation on lesions often shown to be non-malignant by microscopic examination. |