TRUTH ABOUT RADIUM.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 18, 22 January 1926, Page 8

TRUTH ABOUT RADIUM.

UNDOUBTED PALLIATIVE. IN TREATMENT OE CANCER. NOTED RADIOLOGIST'S VIEW. In view of the fact that Auckland General Hospital is to be equipped for treating cancer cases with radium, special interest attaches to what Dr. Arthur Burrows, radiologist of the second biggest radium institute in Britain, told a "'Star' , reporter this morning concerning what has been done at Home. Dr. Burrows, who with Mrs. Burrows, js staying at "Stonehurst," is on a trip round the world. They leave for Rotorua to-morrow, and then visit the southern centres. The doctor is radiologist of the Manchester and District Radium Institute, and Christie Hospital for Cancer, Manchester, and member of the Radiology Committee of the Medical Research Council England. London Institute ranks first in the quantity of radium possessed, the money having been found by Lord Iveagh and" Sir Ernest Cassells. Out of two public appeals very nearly •140,000 was raised for the Manchester Institute, and with that money the institute was created.

Like all scientific men, Dr. Burrows is of an incurable modesty, but when the special circumstances were pointed out to him, how Auckland was just launching a radium scheme for its public hospital, he wa3 good enough to say just exactly what it had been found radium could and could not do in treating the disease which is one of the banes of civilisation. "At the present time," he said, "outside surgery radium is the most useful agent we have in the treatment of cancer. There is considerable discussion going on between radiologists and surgeons as to whether there are not a certain number of cases in which radium should be used, and not surgery; the question has not yet been settled.

Brings Comfort. "Radium lias two great advantages over surgery. The first is that its application is comparatively simple and without risk of immediate mortality. The second is that although in many cases it docs not cure it palliates the condition and makes the patient much more comfortable. Much of the best radium work in palliation is done in those cases of cancer that have recurred subsequently to operation. "When radium was first used it roused extravagant hopes in the treatment of cancer which certainly at first were not justified. From this naturally followed a reaction, and the medical practitioners were inclined to look askance a radium. Since that time great improvements have been made in the technique of radium treatment, and the result is that the treatment has steadily improved as the years have gone by. "Generally speaking," said Dr. Burrows, coming to what had actually been clone, "something like ten per cent of the cancer cases that have been treated by radium—and most of them are too far gone for operation —keep well, without recurrence, for many years. Some sixty or seventy per cent are made comfortable and free from pain for periods of from six months up to five years. The remainder is a residium of what might be called failures."

Regarding the future, Dr. Burrows said, "'lt is probable that surgery will remain the best treatment for certain types of cancer, and that radium will possibly become the ideal treatment for certain other types; but it is quite sure at the present time that in many instances a combination of surgical operation and radium gives , a greater hope than surgery alone."

Use of X-Says. "The figures that I have given," he went on to say, "are probably short of the truth as Regaud of Paris, Bayet of Brussels, Kelly and B.urnam of Baltimore, with the most modern methods have produced even better results.

"Deep X-ray treatment is of considerable value in dealing with cancer, and it and radium form a useful combination. Most of the radium at the present time is obtained from the Belgian Congo, and a big Belgian company has practically a monopoly of the world's supply. Luckily the ores found in the Katanga district of the Congo 'are so rich that the company has been able to reduce the price by 40 per cent, compared with the price charged some years ago. There is little doubt that a general treatment of cancer, such as the application of salvarsan in syphilis is the ideal to look forward to, but short of that, surgery and radium and deep Xrays are the best n.ethods of treating the disease at the present time."

Asked about the number of patients, Dr. Burrows said that in Manchester they were treating about 500 new cases a year, and with the old cases they were giving about 10,000 treatments in the 12 months.

In conclusion, Dr. Burrows mentioned that workers with radium had to take great precautions, as regular exposure to radium had a detrimental effect on their blood and health generally. Fresh air and a good deal of off duty time away from radium was beneficial, but in addition a long period of freedom from exposure was necessary every few years.