Review of
The
Death of Cancer: After Fifty Years on the Front Lines of Medicine, a Pioneering
Oncologist Reveals Why the War on Cancer is Winnable— and How We Can Get There
by Vincent
DeVita and Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn Instaread summary
Before the 1970’s, the vast majority of people
diagnosed with cancer faced a death sentence. The best and often only option
was radical surgery, in most cases disfiguring. Radiation was the other main
option but it was also expensive and alone was largely insufficient. These
therapies were generally only successful when the tumor was localized,
metastatic cancer was largely untreatable. The book is primarily a professional
autobiography of Vincent DeVita, a pioneer in the use of chemotherapy to treat
cancer.
Historically,
the medical profession is generally very conservative, reluctant to try new
things or accept that the old ideas are inadequate or even wrong. That was true
when doctors were spreading diseases by not washing their hands in the 1800’s
and is still true to a lesser extent now. DeVita was one of the pioneers in
fighting against many in the medical profession for the adoption of
chemotherapies in the treatment of cancer. Some of the resistance was due to the
generally conservative nature of the business, but as is pointed out in the
summary financial considerations were also a part of it. If chemotherapy
replaced radiation therapy then many radiologists would be out of work. A
significant reduction in surgery for cancer treatment would also lead to less
work for surgeons.
The summary
does precisely what it should do, it made me want to read the full book. Heroes
come in many forms, some of the most unsung are the people that push for new
medical treatments against the odds. In all cases they face criticism and
sometimes they are risking their careers. While DeVita was not completely alone
in his battles, the adoption of chemotherapy for cancer has saved thousands of
lives and he should be given credit for that. This summary does not do that in
total, the book will do that. This item simply points that out.
This book was made available for free for review
purposes
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