CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Vol 1, 112-117, Copyright
© 1951 by American Cancer Society
The Changing Prognosis for Cancer of the Stomach
George T. Pack M.D.
In summing up the evolution of treatment for cancer of the stomach, it is obvious, therefore, that the tempo of advance has been markedly increased during the last twenty years and especially during the past decade. An improvement of 400 per cent in the curability of the diseas in the short span of twelve years is an accomplishment. The cure rate is still lamentably low and the improvement too slight to permit any lessening in one's continued efforts to improve the outlook for the cancer patient. Unfortunately, in the eyes of the lay public and in many members of the medical profession, any achievement in the treatment of cancer is measured solely by the number of survivors for an arbitrary period of five years. The true measure of success in the treatment of gastric cancer as in other cancers is not only in terms of five-year survivals because many patients have been given one, two, and three years of comfortable life, even though ultimately dying of the disease. An operation, designed and executed with intent to cure may result only in palliation but is nevertheless worth while. For these short-term survivors, there is no yardstick by which one can measure the value of the physician's accomplishments nor by which surgery can achieve proper credit.
