DELAY IN DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF CANCER

Abstract

From the standpoint of cancer control, the public and medical profession have not advanced at the same rate as has knowledge of the clinical aspects of the disease. This problem is of greater magnitude each successive year because the population is aging, i. e., an increasingly larger segment of the population is surviving to reach the period of life when cancer is more frequent. The net result is a larger mortality and morbidity from cancer each year—estimated at 300,000 for 1949.While physicians search for an adequate screening test to detect cancer or hope for a panacea, they are still faced with the current problem of attempting to reduce the number of deaths due to cancer. Today, despite considerable progress in diagnosis and therapy, the only practical means of reducing the over-all mortality and morbidity from cancer is early detection of lesions and the prompt application of adequate therapy. Although