RADIUM TREATMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16550, 8 October 1921, Page 9

RADIUM TREATMENT.

SIR T. PARKINSON'S VIEWS CRITICISED. ALLEGED LAOK OF KNOW* LEDGE. By Teleerraph—Press A* so elation—Copyright. Unit-eel Service. (Received October 8, 8.45 a.m.) LONDON, October 6. In reference to the interview with Sir Thomas Parkinson at Auckland in which ho allegedly declared that radium has been proved a failure. Professor Lazarus Barlow. Director of the Oancoi Research Laboratories at the Middlesex Hospital, as a result of continuous use of radium in sixteen cases, declared: “I was never more confident that it is one of the greatest agents in tho treatment of disease ever discovered. Ft lias effected most remarkable results in cancer cases though ic has been known ony twenty years, whereas the knowledge of surgery has been growing with the ages. Yet who will declare that every surgical operation has been a success? I believe that we axe only on the threshold of the benefits accruing from radium.” Professor Barlow has recently been conducting experiments with radium through which lie has made important extensions in the knowledge of its use. He. declares that more research is wanted. Past failures woro not the fault of radium hut of the operators. Sir William Milligan, of the Manchester Radium Institute, expressed the opinion that Sir Thomas Parkinson’s knowledge of radium was not extensive. Evidence provided through tho London and Manchester Radium Institutes was quite contrary to Sir Thomas Parkinson’s experiences. Apparently he waa not acquainted with foreign literature, which showed that distinguished Continental surgeons had entirely discarded cutting in favour of radium treatment.

Sir Thomas Parkinson, in the Auckland interview, stated tho tendency in London surgeries was to discard radium and concentrate on the X-rays. The latter had stood the test. Not only was radium an ineffective remedy in most cases but positively dangerous results were produced by burning and aggravating instead of improving the disease.