THE CONQUEST OF CANCER

A debut author looks at a rare surgical technique for combating cancer developed over decades. 

With little fanfare, this work begins by condemning Western medicine’s risk-averse approach to cancer treatment. As Kalina explains, while the scientific method may allow for shifting treatment paradigms, the minutiae of research grants and the centralization of medical publishing discourage new methods from being practiced on a large scale. Instead of giving doctors and surgeons the breathing room to develop novel techniques, the fear of malpractice suits and withdrawn funding is used to funnel medical efforts into only a handful of treatments—notably chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Kalina is particularly harsh on both for their “all-in” effects on the body’s immune system. Once patients have undergone chemotherapy, their bodies are often too weak to undergo other treatments, a fact that is often used to suggest that they are ineffective. Kalina wants to encourage fully informed patients and interested doctors to try methods other than chemotherapy (in spite of its popularity). The particular approach Kalina backs was pioneered by Karel Fortýn in Czechoslovakia over 50 years ago. Fortýn’s breakthrough was “devitalization,” a process where tumors are surgically devascularized and left in place, which allows the immune system to mark those dying cancer cells for reabsorption by the body. Kalina’s breakdown of the culture of cancer research and diagnosis is intriguing and persuasive, if slightly verbose (“If we also take into account the immense sums invested independently by pharmaceutical companies worldwide, we determine that never have so many resources been mobilized in such a short time for a single cause or single aim in the medical field without attaining pursued objectives”). The author forcefully argues that the current climate of cancer treatment prevents devitalization from being accepted by practitioners. Most of his references come from medical research rather than the philosophy of science or the social sciences, giving the societal critiques a more anecdotal feel, especially compared to the in-depth surgical sections of the book. But as Kalina moves into a detailed explanation of the technical procedure of devitalization—its effects on different organs and types of cancer, the stitches used, and other compatible treatment techniques—his meticulous writing begins to shine anew. 

A convincing criticism of modern medicine that advocates the reinvention of cancer treatment.