Eduardo Cáceres

Dr. Eduardo Cáceres

Peru’s only cancer hospital now bears the name of a doctor who has devoted more than 40 years to fighting cancer. The Eduardo Cáceres Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas in Lima, which he directed between 1952 and 1985, has evolved into a modern comprehensive cancer center with all the facilities for diagnosis, treatment and research. Yet he and his colleagues still struggle to keep up with a growing demand for cancer treatment and the need for qualified health professionals in Peru.

Inspired by one of the world’s leading cancer surgeons who visited Peru in the late 1940s, the young medical student decided to follow a similar path. “George T. Pack’s simple but deep way of thinking taught me a lot about my career,” Cáceres recalls. “He influenced me deeply with the idea that cancer surgery is not a technique but a philosophy that can only be learned in a cancer hospital.”

Cáceres would study with Pack at the Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases in New York before returning to Lima as Director and Chairman of the Department of Surgery, and as Chief of the Department of Breast, Bone and Mixed Tumors, at Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas. He also was a professor of surgery at Cayetano Heredia University. Over the course of his career, Cáceres produced 124 scientific papers and 12 chapters in books related to oncology, and received several national and international honors, including the Gold Scalpel of the Peruvian Academy of Surgery, Peru’s distinguished Amauta Award given by the Ministry of Education, and the Múcio Athayde Cancer Prize, given by the UICC in July 2000.

“I know that this cancer prize is an individual award, but I must emphasize that I was only the representative of a select group who had accompanied me in my journey in the fight against cancer during the last 40 years,” Cáceres says modestly. “One man’s efforts amount to very little and it would be a difficult task to make significant contributions by oneself.”

The Prize, worth $100,000 US, recognizes the initiatives in cancer education, prevention, diagnosis and treatment his institution coordinates and conducts through epidemiological studies on the mechanisms of carcinogenesis and the development of scientific strategies for cancer control. Cáceres is using the prize money to develop a foundation for training in cancer epidemiology and cancer registries, with special emphasis in cancer among the poor.

Like most developing countries, Peru is experiencing a rise in cancer incidence, and most cancer patients there die of their disease. Between 1985 and 1997, Cáceres notes, cancer deaths increased from 6% to 24% of the total annual deaths in the developing world.

Fighting cancer in countries with limited resources requires projects with a rational and well-structured program of cancer control, he says, and an emphasis on setting priorities in cancer prevention, detection and treatment in the context of the resources available.

Cáceres perceives an acute shortage in several subspecialties such as radiotherapy, pathology and radiology throughout Latin America. “A decrease in the number of applicants for training in these disciplines is increasingly felt because of a lack of economic incentives under the present national health programs in most Latin American countries and because of the rapid sophistication and difficulties in obtaining equipment for private practice,” he says. “Even those who are academically inclined and appointed to university posts continue their private practice because the salaries from universities are insufficient to support a family. Un.fortunately, this inhibits the academic growth of the centers and the growth of the cancer education program.”

It is education that holds the greatest promise for cancer prevention and management, Cáceres insists, and inter..national collaboration plays a critical role in sustaining that process.

“There is a consensus that greater efforts should be made to assist investigators from Latin America and the Caribbean to identify common research interests and research training needs, and to develop joint research projects.”