San Francisco cancer survey : third preliminary report (fifth and sixth quarterly reports) / by Frederick L. Hoffman.

  • Hoffman, Frederick L. (Frederick Ludwig), 1865-1946.
Date:
[between 1920 and 1933]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: San Francisco cancer survey : third preliminary report (fifth and sixth quarterly reports) / by Frederick L. Hoffman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    248/252 (page 246)
    only at the beginning. Irrespective of whether a cancer cause or a cancer cure should he discovered, the problem of cancer occurrence will remain with us for generations to come. I firmly believe in the light of my own investigations that the cause of cancer control is served best by those who in season and out draw attention to the lamentable delay which intervenes between the earliest known onset of the disease and its qualified treatment with the hope of a cure. Summary of general conclusions: The foregoing discussion represents some of the general results of my San Francisco Cancer Survey and of cities and sections assisting in the investigation. They are all, for the time being, tentative and are subject to amplification and modification in the light of future results, which wdll he forthcoming in due course of time. I would fail if on this occasion I did not express my profound appreciation of the extraordinary courtesies extended to me by the health officers, medical practitioners, surgeons and others who have aided me in this investigation. It aims at the presentation of collective results which will facilitate the development of fundamental principles of cancer fi’ecjuency throughout the United States and later on possibly of Canada and Mexico. For the time being the results chiefly emphasize the supreme importance of the time factor in the treatment of malignant diseases, which is often a lamentable failure because of the long delay intervening between the onset and the qualified consideration of cancerous affections. Irrespective of whether a cancer cause is discovered or is specific for the treatment of malignant disease, the problem will remain with us for many years to come, and in all probability increase in importance in proportion to other affections unless present-day tendencies are in this direction materially modified. The only hope for such a modification rests u])on the better instruction of the laity and the medical profession as regards the imperative necessity for the earliest possible diagnosis and the earliest qualified treat¬ ment for all tumor formations, whether benign or malignant. The delay in this respect which is now characteristic of most of the cancer deaths is a lamentable indication of our failure to bring the truth of the cancer situation home to all concerned. '^‘library