Preventable Deaths

Every year, tens of thousands of lives could be saved in the U.S. if doctors throughout the country knew as much about treating stomach cancer as is known in a few topnotch medical centers. Dr. Carl A. Moyer of Dallas reported this conclusion last week to the Radiological Society of North America at Cleveland.

In an analysis made with Dr. S. H. Clayton, also of Dallas, Dr. Moyer found that 40,000 to 50,000 Americans get cancer of the stomach every year. Only one-tenth of the victims are operated on, and he believes that half the surgery patients die from the operation.

The heavy casualties, said Dr. Moyer, need not be. In the first place, four-fifths of the nation's gastric cancer victims are suitable cases, for surgery. If operated on in time, there would be high hope for the majority of them. But the surgery available in most parts of the country is not good enough: although half the patients now die, there are "islands" in this sea of mortality where only one patient out of 20 dies. Among such islands: the Mayo Clinic, University of Minnesota Hospital and Manhattan's Memorial Hospital.

The reason for the wide difference between the nation's best and the nation's average, said Dr. Moyer, lies in the difficulty of the operation. It takes a highly skilled surgical team to perform this difficult task, and there are few such teams available. To train 100 specialized teams, Dr. Moyer conceded, would be an immense job. But it might save 30,000 to 38,000 stomach cancer victims each year.

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