South Fork Considers Cancer: Physician Says No Hodgkin's Hazard
Word that a 19-year-old Montauk woman had been diagnosed as having Hodgkin's disease, a cancer characterized by enlarged lymph nodes, spleen, and liver, flew through the community last weekend along with expressed concern that she is not the first recent East Hampton High School graduate with the disease.
Another graduate, who is 24 and lives in Springs, was diagnosed last month, and a third, from East Hampton, learned he had the illness in October.
But, said Dr. Gail Schonfeld, an East Hampton pediatrician, this week, "There is no cause for alarm."
Dr. Schonfeld said the number of graduates undergoing cancer treatment for the same type of cancer - not even a handful over the past six years - was "not statistically significant."
"I do not feel we have a health hazard," she added.
In The Past
Similar concerns were voiced more than 27 years ago, when two local women were diagnosed with Hodgkin's, one 27, the other 19. Then too, medical authorities called the incidence too low to be significant.
Nevertheless, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. has agreed to ask the New York State Health Department to conduct a study on the incidence of Hodgkin's disease on the East End.
The disease, most often afflicting young people 15 to 34, can be cured in 90 percent of cases, Dr. John J. Ferry, the president of Southampton Hospital, and a pediatrician, said this week. The cure rates range from 70 to 90 percent, however, depending at what stage the cancer is found, said Stefan Madajwicz, an oncologist at Stony Brook University Medical Center.
State Studies?
Its etiology, meaning why the cancer develops, is not known, Dr. Madajwicz said, and it can take up to 10 years to evolve. Those who have had mononucleosis, a viral infection caused by the Epstein-Barr virus, are thought to be somewhat more prone to developing Hodgkin's, he said.
News of the Montauk woman's illness followed on the heels of recent reports of increased breast cancer incidence on the East End. Many have said, though, that the breast cancer reports may not have taken all factors into consideration. Further analysis has been urged.
Mr. Thiele also said that this year's state budget includes a new proposal for a "statewide cancer mapping system." The proposal, he said, is getting "largely bipartisan and serious consideration."
Dr. Madajwicz said there was "no correlation between breast cancer and Hodgkin's," other than the possibility of those treated for lymph illness developing breast cancer later.
"We cannot claim that there is no relationship to the environment," Dr. Madajwicz said, "but we do not know for sure."
Different Cancer
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a different lymph-system cancer, has been linked to Agent Orange, and possibly other pesticides, though studies have not shown any such connection with Hodgkin's.
Claire Pospisil of the New York State Health Department said complete figures were available only through 1993.
Between 1989 and 1993, exclusive of New York City, Hodgkin's was diagnosed in 3.6 males per 100,000 population, and in 3 females. In Suffolk County, the rates were a little higher, at 4 males per 100,000 and 3.4 females.
Higher Incidence
While incidence rates are higher here than statewide, Dr. Schonfeld cautioned that the South Fork's population was too small to draw conclusions. "Two cases one way or another do not mean that much," she said.
Death rates from Hodgkin's declined more than 50 percent between 1973 and 1991, according to the National Cancer Institute in Washington, largely because of more effective therapy.
Dr. Schonfeld said early symptoms were most often a painless inch or two-inch-wide swelling of the lymph glands, generally in the neck, which is "firmer, harder, and more stuck down," than the usual pea-sized swollen glands that accompany upper respiratory infections. Some patients have fever, night sweats, itchiness, and a lack of appetite.