TREATMENT OF DISEASED TONSILS BY MEANS OF RADIUM

Abstract

In making this report concerning a series of patients treated with radium and now under observation for a period of three years, I feel that enthusiasm for this method of treatment is fully warranted by the results obtained in the nose and throat department of Beth Israel Hospital. I do not, however, advocate radium as a substitute for tonsillectomy. It should be used only in those cases in which tonsillectomy is indicated, but in which surgery is inapplicable. In performing a tonsillectomy the majority of surgeons remove the tonsil still enclosed in its capsule, so that immediately after the operation the faucial pillars appear intact and the faucial arch perfectly symmetrical; yet several months later, the throat presents a very different appearance. By this time granulations will have appeared and covered the exposed muscles, resulting in cicatricial tissue and contraction of pillars and arches. Such a result