The Treatment of Carcinoma of the Corpus Uteri

Abstract

CARCINOMA of the corpus uteri is a serious disease, the prognosis of which is much more grave than one has been led to believe. Statistical evidence is gradually being accumulated to indicate that intra-uterine radium followed by hysterectomy and supplemented with x-ray therapy Yields better results than either method alone. However, the frequent finding of local vaginal and parametrial recurrences, the occasional finding of distant metastasis in moderately advanced cases, and the fact that the five-year cure rate is probably less than 50 per cent, indicate that there is still room for perfection of our treatment technic. Recognition of the necessity for improving the radium technic by developing a flexible and adaptable radium applicator which will more homogeneously irradiate uterine cavities of various sizes and shapes constitutes the radiation problem. It is the purpose of this presentation to describe a new radium applicator, called “hysterostat,” which attempts to meet the geometric requirements of ...