CURE OF CANCER.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1993, 25 February 1914, Page 8

CURE OF CANCER.

REMARKABLE RDSTLTS OF RADII.'.M TREATMENT,

An important aiid interesting account of the succcsslul treatment of caliper by radium under'the direction of l)iv dirpteto-r o.f tlao Caiicttr Research Laboratories of the Middlesex Hospital, is given by "The Times" of January b. Tho cancer department, of the hospital admits only inoperable cases-leases, which have passed beyond the aid of tho surgeon. From Juno to September, 19.12, 24 • such • cases- were .admitted) and. in ' tiro sarno ' time tliero we.ro ii deaths —a mortality rate of 10.0 per cent. From June to September, 1913, 68 cases wore admitted. In that timo 38 deaths occurred, and 32 patients Were- in so favourable, a state, as to bo discharged from the hospital—an unprecedented event.. Most •of these patients tfefo now-going about their daily work. .In one or two cases a recurrence ltas taken place, but, Dr. Lazarvmßiirlatf hopes t:ha ; t with fuller kiiowlcdfio of tho action of radium recorrcncr.s will bo provented. ' - " ■ -

Dr. Lazarus-Barlow said nt a, statement that it was' -posSftifo- tiliSt iii some casos thev did not at pre&cnt give a sufficiently powerful dose of the remedy. If 150 milligrams of radium werelmried in a ca.ii.coto'ns tuiiiour it himply withered up and disappeared. lint ii Was suggested that occasionally A few colls .were left unbilled, and ..that, theso a'flerwarcla caused the recurrence by becoming ao? t-ive. He had not so. faf published details of his results becjiuso he. desired to follow tho after-history of lfis casea a little farther. Time was required to substantiate tlio re.markablo result* achieved,, and no one should talk of an absolute cure, until his results had been substantiated by time. Nevertheless there could 11a Ifingcr be. any doubt; as ■to tlio immediate cfleet of radium. upon, fcancorous tumours. It was of tho liiglv ■est inportance that they should have a. sufficient supply of radium to- effect thorough treatment. TIR recurrences could, of coursc, bo treated in tlio" sanlo lnanner as tho'origmal tumour. . "It js a crying shame, 1 ' Dr. Lazaro*Barlow continued, "that radium car.not lie. obtained? I llavo every, reason to believe, from the statements of nianufr.cturei's, that' radiu.m coiil.d'be sold at a .profit a* a few shillings per milligram, The present • market price is "£2D * iiiid upwards:. Ip a matter of tlijs ; urgei.icy.it becomes. a question as to whether tho Stato should no assume control of tho sources of radium in this country for tho beiiefit of the .85y800 \>orsons who an nuallv dio of* cancer in these islands."