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R a d i u m 253
2. Early Cases.—This group, when subjected to hysterectomy.
shows 34 per cent free from growth three years or more after operation;
25 per cent free five years or more; and where hysterectomy was accompanied
by radiation 44 per cent had no recurrence three years or more.
and 31 per cent five years or more after the removal. These results compare
very favorably with the figures reported bv those clinics where
radium is available ii: large amounts, and radiation alone is the adopted
method of treatment. Thus, where radium can be used in limited
amounts only,—such as 100 milligrams of the element, -and the method
of application must necessarily be limited also, hysterectomy plus radiation
is still the method of choice in earlv cases. Here too the safety
of such procedure, from the standpoint of postoperative mortality must
be emphasized. None of the thirty-seven cases of hysterectomy, combined
with radiation, have died as a result of operation.
As x-radiation will also be included hereafter in the operative procedure
of this group, future end results should show an even higher percentage
of five year cures.
REVIEWS AND
ABSTRACTS
Ciosta Forssell. M. D.. (Stockholm. Sweden). Kxperiences in the
Permanency of Radiological Cure in Cancer. Caldwell Lecture. 1924.
The Amer. J. of Roentgenology and Radium Therapy, xii, 301-311, October,
'24.
"The interest in radiological scientific work is nowadays to a great
extent in dealing with the problems concerning the mode of action of
loentgen and radium rays and with the many important and difficult
problems in the therapeutic technique."
"To me, however, it seems also of dominant interest to consider
the experiences we have gained in the past years, so that the development
of radiotherapy may henefit by our practical experience. Radiotherapy
has now been practiced for nearly thirty years, and the technique
in its essential parls has been developed for at least ten years. At present,
however, the situation is such that there are certainly a great number
of publications on the immediate results of radiological treatment
in malignant tumors, bu* very few statistics on the finalresults in radiologically
cured cases which have been carefully followed during a long
period of observation. Also the immediate results of radiotherapy vary
much in different institutions, and the indications for radiotherapy are
judged very differently. No theoretical speculations can here decide the
matter—onlv practical experiences which have been critically examined.
Under such circumstances it seems to me that the time has come for
everybody who has large material at his disposal lo try to draw the balance
of the results obtained. I will now. to the extent of my power, try
lo carry my straw to the stack."
"The most important practical questions which present themselves
for our consideration in this field arc, then:"
"Within which groups of malignant tumors has radiotherapy been
able to effect a clinical cure':"
"To what extent has it been possible to secure a cure within these
groups of tumors*'"
"What is the degree of permanency of this cure?"