Published March 15, 2000
The American Cancer Society provides online a wealth of well-written and organized vignettes about various cancer types, their prevention, risk factors, symptoms, detection, diagnosis and treatment. Knowing is better than not.
If someone close to you, a member of the family or yourself, has been diagnosed with cancer, a hundred questions compete for answers to help make informed decisions about one’s health care: what type cancer is it; what are the risks and consequences of choices? See <http://www.cancer.org> or call the 24-hour hotline is 800-227-2345.
Cancer, in all its forms, is rapid and unorganized cellular growths and the spread of abnormal cells. Normal body cells are constantly growing, dividing, repairing and dyeing.
Statistically, half of all men in America and a third of all women will develop cancer during their lifetimes. Lifestyle changes can reduce most cancers, such as quitting smoking or better diet. Treatment responds best when diagnosed early. The natural reluctance to be tested hastens the disease and lessens the chance for survival.
Accumulated cancer cells form tumors (lumps) that compress, invade or destroy normal tissues. Break-away cells from tumors can travel throughout the body via the bloodstream or lymph system. In this way cancer colonies spread, called metastasis.
Varying cancer types are classified by the part of the body from which they began, each at differing rates of growth, patterns of spread, and responses to treatments. For instance, if breast cancer spreads to the lungs, it’s still called breast cancer.
Leukemia, a form of cancer, doesn’t usually form a tumor. These cells transgress via the blood supply, engage bone marrow, lymphatic system and spleen. Benign (noncancerous) tumors do not metastasize and are rarely life-threatening.
Earliest evidences of cancer have been among fossilized bone tumors and accounts in ancient manuscripts. Scientific inspection of Egyptian mummy bone fragments reveal osteosarcoma and skull destruction from cancers of the head and neck in these preserved cadavers.
Edwin Smith translated the Papyrus writings from 1600 B.C. At that time the disease meant certain death. One form of treatment was a cauterization tool called a “fire drill.”
Hippocrates (460-370 B.C.), the “Father of Medicine,” used the words carcinos and carcinoma, which in Greek refer to crab-like finger projections. Carcinoma is the most common cancer type. He believed the balance of the four body fluids was the desired state of health. Any excesses or deficiencies caused disease.
Beginning in the 15th century during the Renaissance, Aalileo and Newton used scientific methods to advance the understanding of disease. Harvey (1628) performed autopsies to uncover the mysteries of the blood’s circulatory system and heart.
A study (1713) identified hormonal factors, such as in pregnancy, for modifying cancer risk. The issue was regarding the high incidence of breast cancer of nuns’ celibate lifestyle. John Hill (1761) was first to recognize the dangers of tobacco, only a few years after smoking became popular in London. Occupational cancer of chimney sweeps (1775) lead to public health measures to reduce cancer risk.
Giovanni Morgagni (1761) was the first to relate patient’s illness to pathology after death; this was the foundation for oncology, the study of cancer. John Hunter (1728-17893) introduced surgery as a possible cure. If the tumor had not invaded nearby tissue, and was “moveable,” he said, “There is no impropriety in removing it.”
The first cancer hospital in France (1779) was forced to move outside the city due to fear that cancer was contagious.
The use of anesthesia (1846) and the microscope allowed surgical procedures to advance rapidly. Operations such as for radical mastectomy modernized the ancient “fire drill.” Rudolph Virchow (1821-1902), and Morgagni before him, carefully examined body tissues for verification of the post surgery success. He determined that all cells, including cancer cells, are derived from other cells. Bilroth, Handley and Halsted advanced surgical procedures for removal of all cancerous tumors and the lymph nodes in affected area.
Wilhelm Roentgen (1896) gave a lecture about a new radiation he called the “X-ray,” X being the mathematical symbol for an unknown quantity. Within three years, this radiation was being used for cancer treatment. Roentgen received the first Nobel Prize in physics (1901). Today radiation is administered with precise direction and intensity to destroy malignant tumors, minimizing damage to adjacent normal tissue.
Radiation was known to be helpful, not harmful. Researchers tested radiation on their forearms to produce a pink reaction, erythema. It is no surprise that so many of these pioneers gave themselves leukemia.
We avoid many substances that are now known to cause cancer: coal tars, hydrocarbons, asbestos, benzene, aniline and pesticides. Natural sources of radiation such as the sun are cancer contributors, and government occupational standards have been imposed.
World War I soldiers who were exposed to mustard gas tested with severely depleted bone marrow. A counter-agent gas composed partly of nitrogen proved remarkably effective again lymphoma.
Dr. Farber described an anti-vitamin drug that blocked the critical chemical reaction needed for DNA replication. This was the essential beginning of chemotherapy.
Exact chemical structure of DNA, basic material in genes, was discovered by Nobel Prize winners Watson and Crick. Mutation damage to DNA is understood to cause cancer.
Amazingly, normal cells with damaged DNA die; cancer cells with damaged DNA do not die. Over 85% of cancers are regarded as spontaneous in origin, compared to 15% from genetic inheritances.
Adjuvant therapy is the use of chemotherapy to destroy the few remaining cancer cells after surgery. It’s use is commonly prescribed to patients of colon and testis cancers. The combination of multiple chemical agents effectively treat fast-growing leukemias and lymphomas.
Biological Response Modifiers (BRM) agents mimic the body’s natural signals to regulate growth. Biologic agents, occurring naturally in the body, can now be produced in the laboratory. Examples are interferon’s, interleukins, and cytokines given to the patient to initiate natural immune responses, directly altering cancer cell growth and indirectly encouraging the healthy cells to combat the disease.
A most promising application of biologic therapy is aiming an antibody at tumor targets called antigens. Formerly, medical intervention might have been more harmful than no treatment at all. As a consequence, some people today consider all cancer incurable and delay consulting a physician. Someday, hopefully within this generation, the natural treatment and cure of cancers will be realized.
Personal Note: Cheryl DePuy Murray’s 31 year old son has been recently diagnosed as having lumbar osteocarsonoma. Researching information about the disease over the Internet has been a solace to the family.