MEDICAL NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20338, 21 February 1928, Page 11

MEDICAL NOTES.

TREATMENT OF CANCER. EFFICACY OF RADIUM. REPORT OF WOMAN DOCTOR. (Feoii Oue Own Correspondent.) LONDON, January 10. It will bo recognised in a lew years (says tJae Lancet; mat radium is the moat edective form of treatment tor cancer. " Surgery, - ’ tno article in this journal proceeds, “ has Deeu slow to admit radium into its armoury tor combating tho ravages of cancer, but year by year the _ evidence grows that radium is of real utility. “It is our beliet that this evidence will accuiulato at an ever-increasing rate, and that it will not bo many years before radium is recognised to be tho best torm of treatment tor some forms of cancer, with the result that some forms of operations now frequently practised will lad almost into disuse. . “The supply of radium available in mis country has never been large, and iho-o who have used it in a scientific manner have been few, but the r .» u ‘ . o . f ,,r r work is beginning to mako itself felt. RESEARCH COUNCIL’S REDOUT. The Medical Research Council's ’’T port on the subject of cancer is reinforced by an article by Dr Lenm Cnalm-ois. Chambers writes: — ... “The immediate risk of the raciiuin treatment is practically nil, Ths k vc * many women, quite hopeless from tne sur> ceon’s point of view, have been saved tor 10 years and more. .The treatment can often relieve distressing symptoms even vviien it dees not save life. . “The success of this treatment depenoi entirely upon the use of a scientih*. technique, and it requires a skilled gynecologist specially ti-amed m the w ork - j out this, radium is often dangcrousaud is practically always useless as a means ° f “ Very” few women in this country cau obtain this modern vadium treatment, and many of our leading hospitals are entirely without the facilities Iqr .providing, i-. With extended knowledge it is to be hop« - that this state of affairs will very soon to a particular method of' radium treatment which has produced., some of the best results on record. Dr Chambers adds; *• The largest number of cases treated bv this method have beeu under the auspices of the Cancer Research Committee of the London Association ot tne Medical, Women’s Federation. , “ They report 117 cases with no death directly due to the treatment. Fifty per cent, of their cases treated more than a year ago are stated to be free from signs and symptoms of cancer; the percentage operability of these cases was not more than 15 per cent. . “These results are-too recent to justify conclusions as to the ultimate value or tno method, but they compare favourably with the results of those clinics which report 70 per cent, of cases as having died wunm a year of the patients being first seen. OFFICIAL FIGURES. The latest official figures for England and Wales show that the deaths from cam cer were: — Males, 24,437; females, 28,783. ■ Ten years previously, in- 1916, the figures were:—Males, 17,787; females, 22.843. , . In 1926, per million of the population, 1362 died of cancer; in 1866 the figure was a mere 590. In civilised countries all over the globe the figures show muck the same terrible increase, and in this country from the age of 45 cancer is the highest cause of death for females and nearly the highest for males. The most prevalent site for the diseases is in men the alimentary fact, i.e., the mouth and tongue and stomach and intestines. For women the breast and the genital organs are most frequently affected. TEA DRINKING. An average cup of freshly-made tea will improve typewriting, the naming of colours, the cancellation of certain letters in a page of print, and calculations. This is one of the main conclusions established by Dr -R. J. S. M’Dowell, F.R.C.P., in an article on the physiological action of tea as a beverage, published in the diamond jubilee number of the Practitioner. The tests, he explains, were made by Mollingworth wit,h a dose of caffeine equivalent to that contained in an average eup of freshly-made tea. Quite a brief infusion of tea, apparently, extracts from the jtea leaf practically all the available caffeine, while the longer the tea is infused the greater the amount of tannin extracted. “ It is evident,” he adds, “ that the idea of diluting strong and stale tea for second cups is quite fallacious, since the majority of the caffeine is taken out by the first infusion. It may be desirable to dilute the later infusions because of their tannin content, but it is not necessary to dilute quite a strong cup from a first infusion.” The disadvantages of tea lie in its excessive consumption and in the possibility, of bad preparation, and in excess the caffeine may bring about nervous excitation, with tremors and disturbed sleep, headache, and general inefficiency. The statement is quoted that the effects of excess might, especially in a young person, be produced by five cups a day. Among the conclusions reached are that the moderate consumption of properly, made tea has no serious disadvantages,, and that taken with meals it acts as & useful antagonist to the somewhat soporific effect of the meal itself; that it is essentially a luxury, and of no real value except that it promotes a sense of wellbeing; and that w 1 “ urns are in use, the tea should be * . :!e in teapots by rapid infusion with boiling water andpoured into the larger vessels, which maythen bo kept heated as required.