RADIUM IN THE TREATMENT OF CANCER
The action of radium on human tissues was unknown until 1896, when
Prof. Henri Becquerel of Paris, having incautiously carried a lump of
pitchblende in his pocket, discovered on his skin, within two weeks, a
severe inflammation, or ulcer, which was known as the famous “Becquerel
burn.” As physicians of the nineteenth century were accustomed to
burn out cancers with caustics, the idea occurred to them that the
application of radium might prove to be an improvement on the older
method.
It has proved to be so, affording in many cases not only relief,
but in some instances, even a cure, not only for cancer, but for
many other ailments--as we shall see presently. Since that time
active investigation into the action of radium on diseased tissues
has been carried on, resulting in the establishment in Paris of
the “_Laboratoire biologique du Radium_,” and also of the Radium
Institute of Vienna, followed by the establishment of somewhat similar
institutions in various other countries, notably in England and the
United States.
One of the most famous institutions for radiotherapy is the recently
established Radium Institute of Paris, under the management of Mme.
Curie and Professor Debierne. This is composed of two distinct
compartments. In one the scientific properties of radium are studied,
while the other is devoted to its therapeutic applications. Dr. Regaud,
who is in charge of the latter department (a branch of the widely known
Pasteur Institute), endeavors to cure cancer and tumors by application
of radium and X-rays.
New York City boasts a magnificently equipped Radium Institute, under
the directorship of Dr. C. Everett Field. And an even more famous
institution is that founded by the Mayo brothers, in Rochester,
Minnesota, where these eminent surgeons had accumulated an entire
gram of radium as early, at least, as 1920--the largest amount owned
by private individuals. This great institution--now known as the Mayo
Foundation--is no longer privately owned, but it is still under the
direction of the Mayos.
Radiotherapy (or, in France, _curietherapy_, in honor of the discoverer
of radium) or the treatment of various diseases by radioactive
substances, has not been applied so extensively as has treatment by
X-rays (Roentgen rays), produced in vacuum tubes. On the other hand,
the X-rays are not so effective (as usually applied) in the treatment
of certain morbid conditions as are the more penetrating Gamma rays
from radioactive substances; though the latter are essentially
identical with X-rays--swift Beta particles, or negative electrons--of
very short wave-length. To produce X-rays as penetrating as the Gamma
rays, about two million volts would have to be “cut” on the discharge
tube.
The Alpha rays are not often used in medical practice, and have little
penetrating power. They are stopped by 3½ cm. of air, or by a thin
sheet of paper. They are employed only in the way of radium “emanation”
(a gas) dissolved in saline solution, or by the use of needles upon
which active deposit from radium emanation has been collected. “In
either case the emanation water or the active deposit needles must be
introduced into the system--whether intravenously or into the solid
tissues,--otherwise the Alpha rays would have no power to act. In
either case, too, they act along with the Beta and Gamma rays produced
by the active deposit” (Lozarus-Barlow).
Beta radiation is used only for superficial conditions and always in
conjunction with Gamma radiation. “Instead of a radium salt, one of
its products, viz., radium emanation, is often employed chemically.
No essential difference is introduced by the use of this emanation
excepting that its intensity undergoes a progressive diminution with
time, since it falls to half value in 3.85 days. Early rodent cancer,
certain conditions of the eyelids, some cutaneous non-malignant tumors
and birth-marks, are treated successfully in this way.”
Physicians of the Memorial Hospital, New York City, announced in
October, 1925, that by filtering out 90% of the caustic Beta rays
emanating from radium and the high voltage X-ray tube, and using
principally the healing and stimulating Gamma rays, radiation treatment
of cancer of the tongue, lips, nose, ears or other part of the head has
been greatly improved.
In the first six months after the new method was begun, more than 100
cases had been treated with what were considered very satisfactory
results. Owing to the elimination of the caustic rays, much stronger
applications of the beneficial rays can be used, and painful effects
are largely obviated.
If experience and special research lead eventually to successful
treatment of cancer, it will be a great boon to the human race. The
United States leads the world in deaths from this dread disease, with
its average of 90 per 100,000 of the population. The mean average of
cancer deaths in Europe is 76, in Asia 54, in Africa 33, in Oceania
73. Several races, including the American Indians, are stated to
be entirely free from cancer, and others are partially immune. The
Japanese, for example, are subject to all forms except cancer of the
breast. Eighty-five percent of Americans afflicted with this malady are
persons over 40 years of age.
Science Service states that a careful analysis of cancer statistics
gathered by the United States Census Bureau over a period of about 20
years in ten Eastern states reveals definitely that cancer mortality
is from 25 to 30% higher than it was about 20 years ago. This is the
claim of Dr. J. W. Schereschewsky, of the United States Public Health
Service, who made the statistical analysis and reported it to the
American Medical Association. “There has been a pronounced increase in
the observed death rate from cancer in persons 40 years old and over in
the ten states comprising the original death registration area,” Dr.
Schereschewsky said. “Part of this increase is due to greater precision
and accuracy in the filling out of death returns, but the remainder is
an actual increase in the mortality of the disease.”
The only way to stop the ravages of cancer, says the Paris Academy of
Medicine, is to diagnose it early--in time for operation. For this
to be practicable, physicians must be specially instructed. Family
doctors are often ignorant of all but a few forms of cancer and do
not recognize it in its first manifestations. Women of 40 to 50 are
apt to consider little irregularities of bleeding to be associated
with the menopause and therefore harmless. Often this is right, but
unfortunately the bleeding from an early cancer may not differ in the
slightest degree from such harmless irregularities and by the time
other symptoms have developed, the cancer has perhaps grown through
the wall of the uterus and has spread to regions where no treatment
can hope to reach it. The only safe rule to go by is to seek expert
investigation for any unusual or irregular bleeding or discharge,
however slight, especially if these occur at or near the “change of
life.”
One phase of this subject of special interest is that of the use of
radium in the treatment of cancer, especially of the neck or lower
end of the uterus. There is already sufficient evidence to warrant
the statement that some cancers of this region have been permanently
cured by radium alone. And as a relief measure in the late and hopeless
stages of the disease, radium prolongs life, relieves pain and adds
much to the comfort of the victim.
It has been amply demonstrated that radium treatment increases the
permanency of the results obtained by surgery, and often converts
inoperable into operable cases.