218 THE ENZYME TREATMENT OF CANCER
trypsin
+ 2,000 to 2,400 units of amylopsin is not to be understood as one which will
suffice for all cases. In very malignant cancers and sarcomata, more especially
in recurrent cases, it may be necessary to exceed, even to double it. This may
be expressed briefly in the words, “Give the most you can give, and as often as
you can give it, with due regard to the constitutional effects produced. Do
not, however, rely upon preparations, which are not guaranteed to possess a
tryptic strength of 1,000 units per cubic centimetre, or an amylolytic power of
at least 2,000 units per cubic centimetre. In the eyes of its discoverer, the
enzyme treatment of cancer does not consist in the use of preparations of less
guaranteed strengths than these.” Judging by the charts of Captain Lambelle’s
latest case, it is not necessary in all cases to give daily injections for long
periods, for in the first four months of treatment the total number of
injections did not exceed sixty, with sixteen more from the middle of July to
September 17.
There are certain points in the treatment which call for
special notice. The injections, hypodermic or intramuscular, are the essential
items. The chief—possibly the only—uses of oral preparations in the treatment
are the improvement of the patient’s digestion and metabolism. It must be
recalled that Dr. S. Pinkus, in his experiments of introducing large doses of
pancreatic ferments into the blood of a healthy dog, could note, as the sole
visible effect, increase in weight on the part of the animal. In treating cases
of cancer the physician should not forget this fact. As I and others have noted
again and again—and the like observation has been made by Captain Lambelle—it
is one thing to introduce pancreatic ferments into the blood of a healthy man,
and quite another to do the like in such a person, afflicted with