Counterattack on Cancer
The Cancer Medusa: Finding the Right Sword to Slay the Monster
Main Line Today - 1999

In Greek mythology, Medusa was a Gorgon. Whoever looked at this monster was turned instantly into stone. Slowly, but surely, medicine is slaying the cancer monster.

Like a Gorgon, cancer is not one foe, but many. No sooner are medical strides made against one type of cancer, then setbacks seem to occur in fighting another. Since Richard Nixon's "war on cancer" proclamation in his State of the Union address of 1971, the three leading cancer killers of men (lung, prostrate and colorectal cancers) and women (lung, breast, and colorectal cancers) have behaved very much like Gorgons. In 1996 alone, these top killers took 300,000 lives, and the American Cancer Society expects them to take at least that many lives again in 1999.

Local hospital and cancer specialists are leaving no stone unturned in their quests for breakthroughs that will lead to definitive victories. Two of the 35 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the United States are available to us in the Delaware Valley: the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center, and the Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Main Line Today has compiled a brief overview of how some local facilities are combating the dreaded cancer monsters.

JEFFERSON HEALTH SYSTEM
Lankenau Hospital

News update: Colorectal Cancer

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the availability of the flexible fiberoptic colonoscope. Colonoscopy permits the discovery and removal of premalignant lesions (polyps), and in this minimally invasive procedure, colorectal cancer can be prevented. The positive impact of the colonoscope can be better understood if we consider that colorectal cancer, the most common internal cancer among populations in Eastern Pennsylvania, is the only internal cancer that is preceded by an accessible premalignant lesion which can be readily removed and, thus, a cancer can be avoided. Gerald J. Marks, M.D., who practices at Lankenau, Bryn Mawr and Paoli Hospitals played a pivotal role in the history of the colonoscopy, having procured the first production model in 1969.