Evening star., 1952-11-03
Progress Of Cancer
Linked to Personality
Tests on 50 Patients
Made at VA Hospital
By Thomos R. Henry

Progress of cancer may depend on
the personality.
Interesting preliminary observations
on such a possibility have been made by
doctors at the Veterans Administration
Hospital at Long Beach, Calf, accord
ing to bulletin Of recent progress
issued by the American Cancer Society.
A personality test was given to so
cancer patients-in half of whom the
malignant growths were developing rap
Idly and for whom the prognosis was
poor. In the other as the growth was
slow. with prospects Of q fairly long
survival. Twenty-Five Of this second
group. 1t was found. were gregarious.
care-free optimists. The majority of
those with fast-growing tumors. on the
other hand. were repressed, worrying.
hypertensive individuals. Other person.
ality tests gave much the same results.
The results are suggestive. says the
Cancer Society bulletin, "but certainly
at this stage conventional therapy
should not be replaced by the psyche
analyst"
Lung Cancer Findings.
Perhaps more practical finding from
the same studies was that high per-
centage Of those with lung cancers had
been addicted to liquor and tobacco but
that the tumors had developed only
after they had sworn of.
In a summary Of recent progress in
the cancer field the bulletin cites the
following accomplishments:
At Western Reserve University the
toxicity Of nitrogen mustard has been
reduced, in animals, by fortifying them
in advance of treatment with heavy
doses Of amino acids. Treated animals
have been able to take several times
the ordinarily lethal dose. Except for
its extreme toxicity. nitrogen mustard
would be the favorite treatment of leu
kemia. The experiments were with mice
and there Is no certainty that the
system would work equally well with
humans.
The cheek pouch Of the golden ham
ster Is expected to yield important new
knowledge about cancer and the chemi-
cal factors involved in its growth. Ex-
perimenters at Boston University have
succeeded in tranSplanting tissues from
SO human cancer patients into the cheek
pouch. There they have continued to
grow and can be examined readily and
bits removed for further examination
and study without killing the animal.
These transplanted cancer tissues also
can be retransplanted. Non-cancer It's
sues, however. remain in the cheek
pouch up to "a days without growing,
the experimenters report.
Cesium May Be Weapon.
A new radioactive element. cesium.
may constitute a powerful weapon
against cancer in the hands of every
qualified radiologist. This soft, silvery
metal comprised about per cent of
the atoms produced by splitting ura-
MUM. Radioactive cesium, according
to a report from the Oak Ridge Insti-
tute OF Nuclear Studies, gives off a can
cer-killing energy equal to that Of mil
Hon-volt X-ray machines which are
owned by only few of the larger hos
pitals. A supply is good for 80 years
without any maintenance costs.
The difficulty has been in developing
Q separation process to free the cesium
from other elements Methods have
been found for doing this. They are
now, according to the Cancer Society
bulletin. in the pilot plant stage. with
the eventual likelihood that large num-
bers OF cesillm units can be supplied
to private practitioners all over the
country.