The first relatively successful chemical attack on cancer of any kind was described here Wednesday by a Minneapolis gynecologist.
Dr. John McKelvey said four out of every five cases of cancer of the placenta are being cured these days with folic acid inhibitors.
"This type of cancer, known as chorionepithelioma, is very rare," explained Dr. McKelvey, who heads the department of gynecology and obstetrics at the University of Minneapolis; "Nevertheless the fact that these folic add inhibitors actually work offers great promise for the chemo-therapy of the. future."
In town to deliver the ninth annual Graffagnino Memorial lecture, the gynecologist said previously this type of cancer was usually fatal; that if a patient survived, it was regarded as a minor miracle.
MECHANISM, UNKNOWN
'The folic acid inhibitors were originally developed to attack the 1 leukemias," explained Dr. McKelvey, who spoke at the LSU medical school. "But in this field the best they could do was to produce a temporary interference with the progress of the disease.*'
The visiting gynecologist said; 'Work in this area was instituted at the National Institute of Health by people who tried out folic acid inhibitors for other purposes.
"We've been getting regressions with a great many chemotherapeutic agents but no cure,": he added.
Dr. McKelvey said, "No one knows the mechanism by which the folic add inhibitors work." REAL PROGRESS SEEN
The Minnesota physician expressed the belief that medical reserachers are on the verge of real progress in the cancer field. And he pointed to the effectiveness of "Pap" smears in helping detect caneer of the cervix.
Preceding Dr. McKelvey's lecture, physicians assembled at! LSU for the second annual meeting of the LSU "Postgraduate Ob-Gyn." One of the featured speakers was Dr. William Guerriero, clinical professor of obstetrics i and gynecology at the University of Texas medical school.
Dr. Guerriero, who used to teach at LSU, said cancer of the ovaries is a killer because many women fail to show up for periodic gynecological examinations. He said in cancer of the ovaries, "Pap" smears are no help; that a. gynecological examination is practically a "must."
"Two of my patients came to my office recently for their checkups," he recalled. "I noticed that in both cases the size of their ovaries had increased."
'SAD PART ABOUT IT'
Dr. Guerriero said he suspected Ganger and that in both circumtances his suspicions proved correct. But since the cancer was still in the early stages cures; were effected by removal of the ovaries.
The gynecologist said between, the ages of 35 and 45, 8 per cent of all tumors of the ovaries are cancerous; that between the ages of 45 and 55, 20 per cent are malignant; that after 55 the percentage rises to 40.
"And the sad part about it is that most of the tumors produce
no symptoms: until they reach the stage where treatment is very difficult and chances of survival only average," he added.
Dr. Abe Mickal, professor and head of the gynecology and obstetrics department at LSU, welcomed the visiting physicians
