Daily News du lieu suivant : New York, New York • 38

Dy Sidney Fields The Neighbors By George Clark ONLY HUMAN Cancer iettecttiv He is presently associate clinical professor of radiology at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and director of radiology at LaGuardia Hospital in Queens, where he also teaches the subject. Seven years ago he conceived the idea of trying to determine whether mass screening of women hv clinical examination and X-rays could detect early The examination was free, painless and thorough. It lasted about 10 minutes. It would show that the patient, a 36-year-old matron, had no breast cancer.

The free examination is given at the Guttman Breast Diagnostic Institute, 2 E. 87th St. In 1969. its first year of operation, 4,103 women were smart enough to take it. Only 28 were found with breast tumors and more than half of those had not yet spread.

All 28 are way ahead. "When a woman feels a lump, it doesn't mean it's cancer." said Dr. Philip Strax. the calm, amiable medical director of the Institute. "Three out of four lumps are harmless.

But if a cancer is there, it should be detected before the woman can feel any lump, before it spreads." He went on to explain that mammary cancer is the most common cause of death in women between the ages of 40 and 45. An estimated 70,000 Ameri- lTfk N-w ureast cancer ana tnus lower the death rate. He persuaded the Health Insurance Plan to let him try, got an assist from the federal government, and went to work with Dr. Louis Venet, director of Breast Service at Beth Israel Hospital, and Sam Shapiro, HIP's director of research statistics. They began the largest study of mammary cancer dedec-tion ever undertaken.

Records were kept of a control group of 30.000 women who were given no special attention; they saw a doctor only when they felt ill or suspected something was wrong. Breast cancers were found in 1.4 for each 1,000 women and 42 of the tumors were localized. Defecting Cancers Earlier A second study group of 20,000 women was 03 given four examinations over a three vear neriod and A-rayed at each exam. Cancers were detected in 2.7 for each 1.000 and 70 of those had not spread. 'Sis, cut a piece of this cake and put it in my mouth.

Mom told me not to touch it "So far the results show that we're detecting: more breast cancers and finding them earlier," Dr. to btrax said. This should drop the death rate. FAMILY DOCTOR Next May 22, Dr. Strax and his two fellow conspirators will be at the National Cancer Con gress in Houston, where Sam Shapiro will nresent their highly encouraging preliminary findings.

While working; on the mass the idea came to Dr. Strax that if he couldn't give early examinations to all women in the U. he could set up a pattern that would be duplicated in other Ease of Venereal Disease Cure Creates Problems By DR. THEODORE R. VAX DELLEN 1970 by The Chicago Tribune) Venereal diseases such as syphilis and jronorrhea can be cured.

Both respond to penicillin within a week. Prior to 1946, cure of syphilis involved injections for three cities. He brought that' notion to his friend, the late Charles Guttman, a busy philanthropist, who established the Institute that bears his name with Dr. Philip Strax examines patient a $300,000 grant. One of the problems of early cancer detection is bringing the patient and the heavy, complex equipment together.

It impractical, if not impos years. But, the ease of treatment i has created certain problems sible to transport huge machines to those who need it. So Dr. Strax designed and developed a portable X-ray device that can be trucked to densely populated areas. He assigned all royalties Many physiciahs do not notify to the Guttman Institute.

At least six times a year he's flying around the country or abroad to lecture and talk to physicians and make them increasingly aware of the need for early cancer detection. His intense interest in the subject is deeply public health authorities, even though reporting of venereal disease is generally required throughout the country. It is estimated that only one of nine cases of gonorrhea and one of eig-ht cases of syphilis personal. His first wife and the mother of four of his children was told that the lump in her breast was not malignant. We waited until it was too late.

Dr. Strax said. "When she died she was only 39." TettfftifeHk- can women will get it this year. Early detection can save a substantial number of them. As it is, 30,000 will not survive.

"It's long-suffering and mostly," Dr. Strax said. "They don't go quickly. We don't know the cause of it and we dont have a preventative yet. But we do have a good method for early detection." The Institute is not equipped to handle phone calls for appointments.

So the American Cancer Society's New York division does it, instead. Any woman can get an appointmtent by calling PL 9-3500. The Cost Would Be About $100 The examination consists of a brief interview to collect essential medical history; a clinical exam by the doctor; X-ray with a specially sensitive, low-voltage machine; and the use of the thermograph, a new device which charts heat patterns produced by variations in skin temperatures. "Hot" skin spots may indicate an abnormality. "If we didn't use all three techniques we'd miss between 30 and 40 of the cancers," said Dr.

Strax. The cost of the examination would come to about $100, assuming the woman could find a hospital with a thermograph. There are only about three or four in the area. The machine costs $30,000. The results are passed on to the woman's physician.

If there is a sign of cancer and the woman has no physician Dr. Strax promptly sends her to one. "And the Institute pays for it," he said. In his spare moments, which are rare, Dr. Strax writes poetry.

He's 61, a New Yorker, married to a clinical psychologist and has six children. Norman, 33, a Ph.D. from Harvard, is a nuclear physicist. Polly a housewife with two kids. Rita, a school teacher, who adopted a boy from Colombia when she was working in the Peace Corps.

Marshall, 26, by Dunagin Today' Hralth Hint Hidden resentments may be causing insomnia and fatigue. so develoo a discharge but it may be so slig-lit that it is missed. Unless treated, the disease may lead to sterility, chronic arthritic heart blindness, and even, dea'h. The first sign of syphilis is a painless chancre (sore) that develops 10 to days after exposure. The sore may be concealed in women.

Furthermore, it disappears spontaneously but the disease smolders for months until the second statre erupts. Meanwhile, the infected person can pass along the disease. POISONOUS SOLVENT J.A.D. writes: I work with the solvent methyl Cel'osolve and have on occasion inhaled it Can this substance be harmful? REPLY This Is a poisonous liquid that fs used In dvena leather and in the menuaclute of QUtck-dryina varnishes and enamels. It may cause anemia, macroevtosts, or affect the central nervous system, but I assume you have not been exposed long enough to be bothered with these symptoms.

CORTISONE SIDE EFFECT B.P. writes: Does the use of cortisone for arthritis affect the blood pressure? REPLY The pressure may increase slightly, but it returns to normal after the hormone is discontinued. are reported. The physician wants to be loyal to the patient but is not doing the community a favor. OUR PUBLIC health officials want to know who has the disease so they can treat the source and other possible contacts.

Many physicians treat any person with a suspicious lesion in the pelvic area or mouth without confirming the diagnosis. They reason that if the suspicious lesion is, in fact, syphilis, an adequate dose of penicillin quickly renders the individual noninfectious and shortly thereafter brings about a cure. A questionnaire sent to more than 206,000 medicos showed that during the fiscal year of 1967, almost one and a half million Americans developed gonorrhea I and 75,000 syphilis. THIS REPRESENTED an increase of 35.3 of the former and a decline of 23.3 of the latter. Gonorrhea usually develops an aircraft engineer, uayle, 11, a psychologist.

Richard, 20, an N.Y.U. student headed for medicine. A Phi Beta Kappa af 18 Dr Stax is one of four children. His brother is a surgeon. Their father, now 86 and retired, earned the family's bread sewing pockets on men's trousers.

At 18, Philip Strax owned a Phi Beta Kappa key, a degree in science from N.Y.U., and was already a student in its medical school. During his first two years as a med student he held a full time job in the post office. Dr. Vaa Dellea will answer qnutioM retarding health and hygiene in tail column and by nail. He will not alalia diafnouf or prescribe (or individuals.

Enclose stamped, self eavelope. and address DR. THEODORE R. VAN DELLEN, THE NEWS. f.

0. BOX 14S2. GRAND CENTRAL STATION. NEW T0RK, V. Y.

10017. within 3 to 8 days of sexual con tact with an infected person. Men develop a whitish discharge and At the tone, the interest rate will be burning on urination. omen al- BLOMDIE IP YOU COULD I VDUt-O YtXJ 5 YtXJ'D DO THE DISHES THAT'S WHAT -( a MAKE ONE WISH TO HAVE 7 WISH FOR FOR METOMIGHT" v- SHE'D WISH FOR 4 1 AMVTUIMG IN THE WORLD a A. V- AT ALL.

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