Evening star., 1928-05-28
Diseases We Can't Explain.

| Large statistics such as the mortality
| tables of the United States Census Bu-
reau indicate that while the death rate
from diseases that we understand has
| steadily declined In the last 30 or 40
| years, the death rate from diseases we
do not understand has apparently in
creased in the same period Chief
| among the diseases we understand are
| pneumonia, tuberculosis and all the fa-
miliar epidemic or infectious diseases.
| The diseases we do not know so much
about are cancer, on the one hand, and
cardiovaScular degeneration on the other
| hand. This term cardioyaScular degen-
| Grafton Is a sorry one originally con-
| ceived, perhaps, to help the doctors con-
ceal their ignorance for a while. A doc
| tor gets the habit of springing a fright
| full or at least an imposing medical term
on the patient when In quandary as
| to the diagnosis-the term keeps the
| patient amused and checks his curiosity
or his anxiety until the doctor can get
line on what really Is the matter.
| Did you ever envisage bad cold in
| that light? Or run down condition? Or
overwork? Don't do 1T II the victim is
to share your thoughts, but try 1t some
time when some parsonage falls Ill in
the newspapers.
Well, this habit seems to affiict the
doctors en- mas5e as well as in practice.
So they hit on a tacit agreement TO ap-
ply this lugubrious term, cardioyascular
degeneration, or CVD for short. to far-
dening OF the arteries, slow heart muscle
failure (chronic myocarditis). chronic
Brights disease. apopiexy and various
odds and ends of more or less blame
less lives, such as angina pectoris and
aneurism
The cardiovascular part Is fair
enough--it means heart and artery, but
the degeneration part is obsolete, mis-
leading and diScouraging to the medical
student who would shake off the for
bidding influence Of pessimism and
strive to learn something about these
diseases Of mature and elderly people
So let us discard . the degeneration"
idea because 1t is only pathological
error. and call this group of diseases
just cardiovascular disease
One Of the favorite pastimes Of physi-
clans is Grating or listening TO orations
about the marvellous progress medicine
has made in the past; choose your num-
Der OF generations or years. This ad-
vancement is confined to the preven-
ton or cure of diseases We understand.
In regard TO the diseases we don't un-
derstand very well, medicine stands to-
day precisely where 1t was 80 years ago,
as nearly as one can ascertain by a
study Of medical literature. In other
words, We know no more now about the
nature, cause. prevention or treatment
OF chronic nephritis tBright's disease)
or apoplexy cerebral hemorrhage,
stroke of paralysisJ. or arterioschierosis
hardening of the arterieS). or chronic
myocarditis gradual impairment Of
efficiency Of the heart) than We knew
30 years ago. though it Is only fair to
say that 80 years of practice has nat
urally given us a degree Of glibness or
fiuence in telling the laity the little we
know about these diseases and our mot
ley speculations concerning them.
From the mortality statistics 1t would
seem that cancer, on the one hand, and
cardiovascular disease. on the other, are