File:The American journal of roentgenology, radium therapy and nuclear medicine (1906) (14734064566).jpg

Identifier: americanjournroen06ameruoft (find matches)
Title: The American journal of roentgenology, radium therapy and nuclear medicine
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: American Radium Society American Roentgen Ray Society
Subjects: Radiotherapy X-rays
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. C.C. Thomas
Contributing Library: Gerstein - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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urgeons have for manyyears advocated deep roentgen therapysubsequent to surgical operations for can-cer, and no doubt a great deal has beenaccomplished in this way. The new featurewhich I desire to add is the transformationof the deep-seated cancer field into a super-ficial one in the recurrent cases, thus pre-paring it for effective roentgen or radium small cjuantity, namely, the hard rays, topenetrate deep enough to reach the growth.Such small quantities of radiation, insteadof destroying the cancer cell, may stimu-late it to more rapid growth. It thereforesuggested itself to me that if we couldremove the skin and all the overlying tissueand as much of the growth as feasible, andleave a large area entirelj exposed, andthen apply either x-ray or radium directlyto the open wound, we might by thismethod obtain results similar to thoseusually obtained in superficial growths. The physicists teach us that the raysemanating from radium consist of threevarieties: alpha, beta and gamma rays.
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Figs, i, 2 and 3. Illustrate the Comparative Density of Shadows of Various Thicknesses of Aluminum,AS Compared with a Certain Thickness of Human Skin, Fat, .\nd Muscle. therapy. To achieve this / recommend theremoval of all tissues, skin, fat, muscle, andas much of the tumor as feasible, leaving thecancer bed ividely exposed in order that therays may penetrate directly into the seat ofthe malignant growth. It is a well-known fact that superficialmalignant growths, such as epithelioma,respond readily to .r-ray and radium treat-ment, while deep-seated growths do not.The cause for this is very suggestive. The.skin, fat, and subcutaneous tissues whichusually overlie deep-seated cancer, aredense filters for the penetration of the.%-rays. They absorb most of the softerrays from the .v-ray tube and allow only a The alpha rays constitute 91 per cent ofall the rays emanating from radium, thebeta rays about 7 per cent, the remainder,gamma, only about 2 per cent. The alpharays are very readily a

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