Cancer: Its Cause and Treatment, Volume 2 (of 2)

by Lucius Duncan Bulkley

6. Those in close proximity to or involving vital organs, blood vessels, ureters, etc.

7. Those in which there are other reasons, such as advanced age, lowered vitality, great cachexia, etc.

8. Those who absolutely refuse to be treated with the knife.

There is no necessity of troubling you with details as to the character or appearance of inoperable cancer, which are dwelt on in standard works, as our study relates rather to the causes of the disease and the means of arresting its progress.

Nor need I dwell much further on this distressing aspect of cancer, for I believe that all see the necessity of seeking some other measures than operative surgery to aid in solving the question of relieving the present condition of affairs. It is for this mass of otherwise hopeless cases that any reasonable method of treatment is worthy of serious consideration, both for the measure of relief which may be secured along many lines by exactly the proper care, and especially for the possibilities of its value in regard to prophylaxis.

Unfortunately it must be acknowledged that many claims, quack and other, have been put forth in times past for remedies and measures which would control or remove, and even cure, the disease in all stages. But the failure of each in turn has very naturally discouraged many from accepting any new proposition, and the profession and laity have almost given up the hope for a real cure of cancer.

In the present instance, however, there is no attempt to present or urge any single means or measure as a cure-all for cancer. But there has been an endeavor to study the fundamental causes of the disease along biochemical lines, and to meet intelligently the errors found. We have seen cancer developing more and more as the ill effects of modern civilization have manifested themselves, and have found that its increase has kept pace coincidently with and even exceeded that shown by certain other diseases, cardiac, arterial, and renal, which are recognized as due to errors of living; and there is every reason to believe that cancer is of the same origin. In a later lecture I shall hope to show how some of these errors may be overcome, with the consequent cessation of the cancerous process and even the disappearance of the malignant lesion already formed.

Recurrent cancer represents only the continuance and further operation of the internal or systemic causes which induced the formation and development of the first lesion, and are a natural sequence therefrom. Otherwise why should there be such an almost universal tendency of the disease to redevelop either in the same or other localities? It is granted, of course, that the very complete ablation of an early tumor and its surroundings removes a focus in which disease has started, and from which is generated a hormone or poison which tends to further lower the vitality of the blood. But this does not by any means reach the basic cause, as we saw in the former lectures.

In estimating, however, the real value of an operative procedure, which has seemed to be successful for some period of time, we must also inquire if there has not been some other cause which may account for the absence of further cancerous deposits? It is more than likely, in successful cases, that the previous occurrence of the disease and the fear of recurrence have so modified the life of the patient in many respects, that the primal cause is more or less removed. It is incredible to believe that the mere removal of the portion of tissue in which the systemic disorder has localized can forever prevent a new focus from developing. As well might we expect that the removal of a gouty toe, a tubercular deposit, or a late syphilitic gumma would inhibit further manifestations of the disease.

Recurrent cancer, then, is but the result of a continuance of the operation of the same causes which produced the first local lesion, and need surprise no one, if those causes are left entirely unchecked and the system unchanged. Undoubtedly in many instances the recurrence, or increased production of the disease, is made more certain by the operation itself; it is also recognized that handling or manipulation then or at any time may also contribute to this, as may be understood from the following: