The Use of Small Amounts of Radium at a Distance in the Treatment of Carcinoma of the Mouth and Face

Abstract

THAT radiation—the use of X-rays and Gamma rays of radium—is useful in destroying cancer cells has been an established fact for a number of years. X-rays of even long wave length—in what to-day would be considered very small doses—were shown to be effective in decreasing the size of the spleen in splenomyelogenous leukemia by W. A. Pusey, in 1896, and at almost as early a date epitheliomata of the skin were successfully treated by both the Gamma and Beta rays of radium. The results were by no means uniformly successful but even at that early date it was clearly shown that, potentially at least, radiation was an effective agent in the treatment of malignancy. With the gradual accumulation of knowledge both as the result of careful clinical observations, with statistical studies, and painstaking laboratory investigations both of biopsy material and spontaneous and implanted carcinomatous growths in animals, the hit-or-miss methods and inconsistent results of that early day have been replaced, until to-day i...