Seven years is a long time to stew over this problem, especially since
swelling of the arm is not uncommon after some forms of surgery for
breast cancer. It is a responsibility of the surgeon before surgery to
inform a patient about possible complications following surgery, but I
SWPMMQ doubt whether any of you would be in a position to recall accurately
afiPr what was said and what was not said seven years ago.
bmmst Rather than exclusively thinking in terms of lawyers, you might do
sumwn’ well to explore with your mother's surgeon, and/or various self—help,
post—mastectomy groups, such as Reach for Recovery, the considerable
techniques available for relieving this complication.

You recently wrote, "Even when surgery definitely seems indicated, as

in the case of breast cancer..." and you then go on to describe four
kinds of surgery, including the now—outmoded radical.

I hope in the future you'll also tell your readers about the viable

option of surgical biopsy of tumor with radiation as primary treatment.
——Jory Graham

I am happy that you wrote me and included a number of your excellent
articles from the Chicago Sun—Times.

Radical surgery has always been my least favorite treatment for
breast cancer, and I am convinced that future generations will look back

Hadmnbn on radical mastectomy with the same horror that we "moderns" regard the

andcnher bloodletting of George Washington's day.

thmapkw In a book entitled "Conquering Cancer" (Random House, $10), Lucien
Israel, M.D., one of France's outstanding cancer researchers, says "It
is truly remarkable that in spite of increasingly early diagnosis and
the almost universal application of post-operative radiotherapy, a
majority of surgeons throughout the world persist in performing an
operation that is so mutilating."

Dr. Israel questions the logic of removal of involved lymph nodes:
"A breast cancer sends cells into the lymph nodes of the armpit. The
lymph nodes are therefore systematically removed. If they are 'negative,'
the postoperative prognosis is better than if they are positive, and
everyone leaves it at that. Yet we know that it is in the lymph nodes
that the macrophages and the lymphocytes receive and exploit the antigenic
information that will lead to specific immunity. Would it not be better
to leave the lymph nodes intact?"

He further argues: ". . .the common sense of the French surgeons
seems to be far preferable to the pioneering attitude of certain special-
ized American surgeons."

Again contrasting French with American surgery, Israel says, "In
the United States I have seen abdominal surgery performed which was so
extensive that it was not so much a therapeutic act as an acrobatic feat
on the part of the surgeon and such that I personally would prefer not
to survive rather than to survive in such a condition."

The United States certainly has no monopoly on medical wisdom.
Sulfonamides came from Germany; the dangers of The Pill were first pub-
lished in British medical journals. And now a French doctor has given
advice on the treatment of cancer that is must reading for all Americans
—-physicians and patients alike.

I have heard that breastfeeding your baby can help prevent breast cancer.
Is this true?——R.F.