Scientists in the early days of treatment broke into rival camps that advocated radiation, chemotherapy, and radical surgery. In the 20th century, cancer became emblematic of an age in which people lived long enough to develop many types of cancer and in which prevention and sanitation felled other types of diseases. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, radical surgeons turned to cutting off large parts of the cancer-ridden body. The currents of treatment changed from no recourse to bloodletting, which was supposed to cure the body of excess black bile, thought to be the cause of the disease. Mukherjee explains how cancer treatments have evolved over the centuries, from its first recognition in ancient times. He also began to raise money and awareness of the disease through the Jimmy Fund. Farber began to use antifolates in his treatment, and patients experienced brief remissions. In the late 1940s, scientific thought believed nothing could help these types of patients. The author then describes Sidney Farber, an imperious and brilliant pathologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, and his quest to use the first forms of chemotherapy to treat children with leukemia.
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