CANCER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 111, 7 April 1930, Page 8

CANCER.

REMARKABLE CURE. BY RADIUM AND X-RAYS. Remarkable cures, in cases which a few years ago would have been regarded as hopeless, have been obtained with the radium purchased by the Commonwealth Government, says the Sydney Morning Herald. Statistics of the past year’s work show that nearly 100 per cent of the cases of hyperkeratosis, a form of cancer resulting in horniness of the Jrin, has been cured. Of 400 cases of rodent ulcer taken in the early stages and treated by radium or X-ray, about 90 per cent have been apparently cured. In cases of true skin cancer, about 60 per cent, of the patients have benefited by treatment. _ _ *, Among the cases in which cures or relief have been obtained, more than 40 types of cancer, involving every part of tho body, are represented. Many of the cases, when offered for treatment, were desperate. They were not specially selected, although it is pointed out that by choosing cases which will react favourably to radium or X-rays it is possible to produce excellent statistics of permanent cures. Among these would bo types which a few years ago would have necessitated mutilating operations, or would, perhaps, have been hopeless. One remarkable case was that of a man suffering from a tumour of the brain, which had reduced him practically to a state of imbecility. After X-ray treatment he has been restored to useful life. In several instances hands which a few years'ago would have been doomed to amputation have been saved by radio-therapy. ' Excellent results have been obtained with both radium and X-rays, Often it is merely a matter of convenience as to which the patient is subjected to. A piece of radium, it is pointed out, is after all really a very small and refined X-ray machine, which can be placed in very close proximity to a growth. Many of the radium procedures are comparatively simple. A small plate, about half or three-quart-ers of an inch square, may be placed in contact with tne affected part for a few hours, with suitable sheets of metal ns filters in between. A small quantity of radium in hollow needles mav be introduced into the tissues in the neighbourhood of the growth; or tubes containing larger quantities. ot radium may be introduced into body cavities. Sometimes radium is placed on a block of wax, which is strapped to the affected part for a definite period. Some of these methods are attended by no inconvenience whatever to the patient, and the artistic effects produced by both radium and X-rays have a very definite appeal to the surgeon. AUSTRALIAN TYPES. Excellent results have been obtained with forms of cancer which, according to medical authorities, are, more or less, peculiar to Australia. These are the superficial or skin cancers which are prone to appear on exposed parts of tne body, notably the face, hands, and arms. On the face hyperkeratosis, or horniness, may progress for years. Rodent ulcer, which is at first a mild type of skin cancer, is probably due to the irritation caused by certain rays of light, although there are authorities who believe that damage to the skin of the face is responsible. In early stages the ulcers are quite easily cured by radium or X-rays, but if neglected they may effect the cartilage or bone, causing hideous deformities. A third type is the true skin cancer, which is much more malignant and destructive. This often occurs in the face, hands, or arms of people whose occupation exposes them to the fierce heat of the sun or its chemical rays, or to other sources of irritation. Research authorities are emphatic that in the early stages the treatment of these conditions is both simple and successful. The appalling thing, they state, is the frequency with which patients either treat themselves with caustics such as arsenic, sheep dip, or strong chemicals, or simply allow the disease to run its course until their cases are hopeless. Cancer has a very definite economic aspect,” said one authority in Sydney. “It is prone to attack those whose age and exeprience fit them to guide the generations following them. But any medical man will be able .to recount pitiable stories of people of high intelligence literally throwing their lives away because they have been too busy to attend to disturbances of their health.”