TREATMENT OF CANCER

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27736, 13 August 1955, Page 7

TREATMENT OF CANCER

Advances Described At Geneva (Rec. 11.30 pjn.l GENEVA, Aug. 11. Important advances in the fight against cancer, made possible by nuclear research, were described by American and Russian scientists at the international conference on the peaceful uses of atomic energy in Geneva today. Four American doctors in a joint paper described new radioactive substances for use in cancer treatment. They said that colloidal radioactive gold had been reported as yiving favourable results both in America and Europe. But control of the disease ■speared tempon ry and the treatment was not curative. Recent studies had shown that less expensive and less hazardous substances—yttrium and lutecium —could be used, and that they might have certain other advantages. The doctors said that; these substances offered a way of investigating the usefulness of different types of interyl radiation in certaia cancer Pl l>r < Mxrsball Brucer, of the medical division at the Oak Ridge Nuclear Institute, Tennessee, said that America would start producing in 1957 a new and outstanding radioactive isotope for the treatment of deep-seated Brucer said it was named cesium 117 and would be cheaper and easier to handle than cobalt, at present the most efficient substance in this fieldCesium 137 was a product of nuclear fission, and therefore of every reactor, Dr. Brucer explained.