NOTED SURGEON.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 70, 22 February 1932, Page 7

NOTED SURGEON.

VISIT TO AUSTRALIA. Mr C. H. Fagge, a well-known London surgeon, who is on a visit to Australia, stated in the course of an interview that there had been much talk about radium replacing the surgeon’s knife, but the optimistic reports about the success of this treatment, coupled with X-ray, for certain diseases such as cancer and tuberculosis, had not so far been upheld. “Of course,” he added, “this cannot be taken as an indication that radium has failed, because the research work into the effects that substance has on disease is still in its infancy. The exact dosage of radium and tho value of the ray to be used in each disease are still not yet known and all treatments at present are. more or less hits in the dark. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done in delving into the undisclosed 6ecrets of this treatment and, when it has been completed, there is practically no doubt that radium and X-ray will play a big part in the fight against disease.”

TREATMENT OF CANCER. “We have nothing to teach you about cancer treatment,” Mr Fagge said. The chief medium for dealing with the disease, he added, was by means of radium and deep X-rays, but the knifo was still paramount. He thought that possibly cancer was on the increase, l>ut the belief might be due to methods of diagnosis being more exact. There was no evidence of a euro being discovered, lie said. How could they discover a cure until they knew the cause of the disease ? They knew nothing of the primary causes, though they knew something'of the contributory factors. One of the objects of the cancer campaign, of which he was a delegate from Great Britain, was to impress on tho public the all-important necessity of consulting a doctor at the very first sign of anything resembling cancer. Patients should not themselves be the judges. The worst thing about the diseaso was that cancer was practically painless in its early stages, and, therefore, patients were inclined to disregard the signs. BRAIN AFFECTIONS. Mr Fagge said that in recent years there had been a_ tremendous advance in pathology of brain affections, due to the invention of a number of ingenious devices aiding access to the brain, chiefly instruments for removing portions of the skull. Some of these were electrically driven, and enabled operations to be successfully carried out, which a few years ago would have been decidedly ■risky. There had been a similar revolution in surgery of the chest since the war, owing tq better understanding of its physiology. Mr Fagge said he was unaware of any prejudice against women doctors, but he did not think that women generally preferred female doctors. Women in medicine had filled a definite want, and no doubt would continue to do so, but possibly the phenomenal success of a few brilliant ones had drawn into the profession a large number of their sex, for whom there was an insufficient demand. During the last few years the supply had overrun requirements.