FOR CANCER

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 13, 16 July 1934, Page 8

FOR CANCER

POWERFUL RAYS

NEW SYDNEY PLANT

(From "The Posts Representative.) .".'■' "SYDNEY, July 5.'

Within the next few weeks Sydney will have'the largest deep therapy apparatus in Australia and one of the biggest in the world. The rays of; tlfe new plant will be so penetrating that a special building is being constructed for it. Buildings with ordinary walls, aro quite unsuitable, and tons of lead have been used in this unique structure— the only one of its kind in Australia. It will be _ attached to the Coast Hospital, an institution managed by the Government.

When. X-rays were! first used in the treatment of cancer it was possible to make tubes that would withstand only a few thousand volts. Most, of the rays were very soft and would not penetrate very far. They were therefore absorbed by the skin, and were suitable for treating conditions that were merely superficial. It soon became apparent that higher voltage would have to be used, and that led to the production of a very high voltage machine. It is claimed that the development in this respect is greater in New South "Wales' than in any other State in the Commonwealth.

According to one expert it is possible that more patients are treated by high voltage in New South Wales—voltages exceeding 200,000 —than in any other part of the world. In one or two other countries machines -have used experimentally at a very high voltage, eyen as high-as 700,000.■■-' Such machines are not available for routine work. In New, South Wales-three machines have been installed which .will: produce 300,000 volts, and the plant about to be installed at the Coast Hospital will produce 400,000 volts. All these' machines h'aye-been made in: Australia. From an electrical. standpoint there is no objection tor using a still higher voltage, but the limitation, is the X-ray tube. New Zealand has a ' 200,000-volt machine supplied ly a Sydney firm. -■