Available online
Description
The programme aims to describe what cancer is, why it kills, and what can be done to cure or prevent it. These questions are examined in the context of breast cancer.
The programme aims to describe what cancer is, why it kills, and what can be done to cure or prevent it. These questions are examined in the context of breast cancer.
| Module code and title: | T101, Living with technology: a foundation course |
|---|---|
| Item code: | T101; 15; 1980 |
| First transmission date: | 31-08-1980 |
| Published: | 1980 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:00 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | David Jackson |
| Contributors: | Keith Attenborough; John Naughton |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Breast cancer; Carotene; Cause/cure; Chemotherapy; Lung cancer; Prevention; Radio therapy; Smoking; Surgery; Tumour |
| Footage description: | John Naughton, in the studio, introduces the programme. Keith Attenborough, voice over micrographs of cancer cells multiplying, explains just what cancer is. Film of rats being given a carcigonen to induce tumours. Shots of dead rats showing these tumours. Shots of dissected out rat lungs, one with cancer, the other one normal. Film shots of a doctor examining the breast of a female patient who has reported a lump. He explains to her that he will perform an excision biopsy operation. Film taken inside an operating theatre shows first an excision/biopsy operation and then a lumpectomy. Commentary by Keith Attenborough. With the aid of animated diagrams, Richard Bulbrook and Keith Attenborough describe the various operations which can be performed in the case of breast cancer. After each type is described there is film of a woman who has undergone such an operation. Richard Bulbrook briefly outlines the success rate for these operations and then discusses the need for radiotherapy as a follow up. Film of a woman undergoing radiotherapy. Interview with a woman who has undergone radiotherapy. Shots of a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy, Interview with a woman who has undergone chemotherapy. Her husband also gives his view. Keith Attenborough and Prof. Laslo Lajtha discuss the reasons why the above treatments are not always successful. Lajtha, with the aid of a graph, point out, particularly, the short period which doctors have to diagnose and treat the disease before it is too late. Dr. Bodmer also gives his view on this problem. Walter Bodmer, Keith Attenborough (v/o) and Richard Bulbrook discuss some of the possible causes of cancer such as industrial chemicals and abnormal hormone levels in the blood. Bulbrook's experiment to check the hormone levels in 2000 Guernsey women over a twenty year period is discussed. Film of researcher collecting urine samples from the women at their homes. Richard Peto and Keith Attenborough discuss Peto's thesis that dietary factors play a large part in the incidence of cancer. They look particularly at carotene, a vitamin A derivative. Walter Bodmer explains the great difficulty of conducting a large controlled experiment on the effect of diet on cancer incidence. Over shots of cancer publicity posters, Attenborough (v/o) sums up the programme. |
| Master spool number: | OU 3277 |
| Production number: | FOUT048K |
| Videofinder number: | 2211 |
| Available to public: | no |
