President’s Cancer Spurs Surge in Calls to Physicians
Surgeons in the San Fernando Valley Thursday reported a surge in the number of inquiries about colon and rectal cancer, a direct result, they said, of President Reagan’s widely publicized surgery.
The physicians interviewed said the increases range from a low of 25% to two or three times the normal number of queries. They said most of the patients are scheduling appointments for cancer screening, breaking with a common reluctance to see a doctor quickly once symptoms arise.
The callers were typically more than 40 years old, the age at which doctors recommend that regular testing for the cancers begin.
“When you get that kind of media exposure about the President, people are more cooperative,” said Dr. David Smith, a Canoga Park colon-rectal surgeon. “They realize it’s the real thing, and they don’t question our advice to come in.”
Smith’s office said it had logged 50 calls about colon cancer this week, about twice the average number.
“It’s getting hard to schedule anything more in,” said Alys Smith, David Smith’s wife and nursing assistant. “It was awfully quiet before this.”
Warning Signs Cited
Most of those calling cited warning signs of the disease, such as blood in their stool, changes in bowel patterns and weight loss. Others were merely prompted to seek routine checkups they had been putting off, physicians say.
The American Cancer Society reported a burst of concern about the disease throughout the Los Angeles area, with 250 phone inquiries in three days, spokeswoman Becky Moore said Thursday. She said callers were asking about symptoms to watch for, how the disease is detected and treated and how much screening costs.
Doctors estimate standard costs at $60 to $150 for two common tests: a screening of stool samples for signs of blood and an examination known as a sigmoidoscopy, in which a physician inspects the rectum and lower colon with a hollow, lighted tube.
Costs rise when physicians use a flexible, longer tube that can reach as far as 25 inches up the intestinal pathway.
The national president of the American Cancer Society, Dr. Robert McKenna, said public response to Reagan’s cancer in his Los Angeles and San Gabriel offices is the greatest he has seen in 30 years as a cancer surgeon. He expects hospitals to set up screening clinics to meet the new demand for tests.
“The only one like it is going back to Betty Ford and Happy Rockefeller when they went in for cancer,” McKenna said, referring to mastectomies performed on both.
“People reacted with the attitude they want to do something about it,” he said. “It’s made people aware of their health and given them some fundamental knowledge.”
Doctors at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland announced on Monday that the tumor they removed Saturday from Reagan’s colon was malignant. They said there was more than a 50% chance that he will be cured of his disease for the rest of his normal life span.
2nd Only to Lung Cancer
About 138,000 Americans are expected to contract colon or rectal cancer during 1985, and 60,000 may die from the disease, according to data gathered by the American Cancer Society. Only lung cancer generates a higher number of cases or deaths. Breast cancer ranks third.
When colon cancer is detected and treated while still localized in the polyp where it arose, 87% of patients live five years or longer. If the disease has spread to other parts of the body, the five-year survival rate drops to 47%. For rectal cancer, the respective figures are 78% and 38%, according to cancer society figures.
Physicians stress the need for regular testing because the disease frequently exhibits few or no symptoms until it has reached an advanced state, when treatment is less often successful. People at particular risk are those with a family history of colon or rectal cancer or polyps. High-fat, low-fiber diets have also been linked to a higher incidence of the disease.
Annual Test Advised
The Cancer Society recommends that adults over 40 have a digital rectal examination performed by a physician annually. After 50, it suggests a test for blood in the stools, as well as a sigmoidoscopy every three to five years if two initial examinations have shown no signs of cancer.
Physicians interviewed were divided over whether the attention drawn to Reagan’s colon cancer will translate into long-term attitudes to seek early detection.
“It’s transient when these things occur,” said Dr. Steven Sapkin, an Encino colon and rectal surgeon. “It will probably only last a couple of weeks.”
Still, Sapkin and other doctors predicted some long-term benefit because the publicity focused on colon cancer will lend credence to their urgings that patients come in for a screening.
In particular, they argue that Reagan’s bout with the illness may help overcome patient reluctance to investigate signs of colon or rectal cancer.
“I have people who come in who are embarrassed about it,” said Dr. Lewis Weintraub, an Encino-based colon and rectal surgeon.
“It hasn’t really been polite dinner conversation to talk about the functions and problems of the intestinal tract. Now it’s been made acceptable to discuss it openly,” Weintraub said.
