TREATMENT OF CANCER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19976, 19 June 1928, Page 11

TREATMENT OF CANCER.

INJECTIONS OF LEAD. ' WORK OF LIVERPOOL DOCTOR. AN ELEMENT OF DANGER. The cabled information that two Canadian investigators, Dr. A. C. Hendricks and Professor E. F. Burton, of Toronto University, have discovered an improvement on the lead treatment of cancer, is interesting news for those who have followed (he progress of cancer research. Lead injections have not been employed so far by the New Zealand medical profession, owing to the experimental character of the treatment, the difficulty in obtaining the necessary preparation, and the high percentage of fatalities that have followed its use in the United Kingdom. "The treatment has been rather under n cloud, because of the number of deaths attending its employment," said a leading Auckland specialist yesterday, "but the Toronto discovery may give it, a fresh lease of life if it in any way renders the injection less dangerous " The treatment of cancer with lead has developed with disappointing slowness in England owing to the difficulty of finding a suitable form for administering the substance. Lead, even in small doses, is poisonous, and after injection various toxic reactions are liable' to take place, some patients refusing further injections owing to excessive sickness, which has been known to continue in some cases for a week. Pain felt at the site of the cancerous growth, however, proves that the lead acts on it, and noteworthy results have been achieved. Pioneer of the Treatment. The discoverer and pioneer of the lead treatment of cancer is Dr. W. Blair Bell, professor of gynaecology and obstetrics at the University of Liverpool, and director of the Liverpool Medical Research Organisation. His experiments have been carried out in the university laboratory and the results have been applied in two Liverpool private nursing homes containing about 20 beds each. One home adjoins his residence and has a connecting door so that the investigator practically lives in an atmosphere of malignant disease. No patient is given the treatment unless n private practitioner has given his consent, and only those patients who, on examination are found suitable for treatment, are admitted. Professor Blair Bell told a visiting practitioner that some people became highly indignant with him if he refused a patient. He mentioned the case of a boy who had arrived the previous week from America with a very advanced malignant growth. He had refused to treat him and the parents had taken the boy back to the hotel, where he died the next day. The great majority of patients who have been treated "are suffering from very advanced malignant disease, and the lead is used practically as a last resource, hence the number of deaths is enormous. The present rate of cure is about one in five of all cases treated. "Results Most Encouraging." Nearly all patients are operated on first, as much as possible of the malignant growth being removed. Four or five days later the first intravenous injection is "given, the substance being a colloid suspension containing .5 per cent, of lead. The preparation is called "choriotrope, and was placed on the market for the uso of certain specified doctors, but was subsequently withdrawn, as the high percentage of gelatine it contained gave a harmful reaction and several patients died of shock. In 1926 Professor Blair Bell gave a course of instruction in the method to 40 visiting doctors, and fully explained his formula. An Australian doctor who attended t rofessor Blair Bell's course and spent some time investigating the treatment saya. "The results are most encouraging. I saw a number of the patients mentioned as cured, and their condition was really marvellous " At the same time. Professor Blair Bell does not claim to have a cure for cancer." He makes it clear he is engaged in a scientific investigation ami that the clinical work is only the test of the findings obtained m the laboratory. Patients arc given to understand that treatment may be dangerous and «o guarantee is given as to the result. All foes be hands to the Medical Research Organisation for cancer research. Expei - ments with "choriotrope have been made in Australia by Dr. S. W of the chemical department of the University of Adelaide.