The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1927-06-30
RADIUM AS A CURE OF CANCER


When radium was first employe,
in the treatment of cancer its goo,
effects in the cases where it was &C
complished something were givel
wide publicity while little was sal,
about the cases in which it proved
worthless.
AS a consequence, we became over
enthusiastic about it-some going 81
far as to say that "at last the long
looked for cure for cancer had beer
discovered"
The rarity and high price of radiun
probably had something to do with
the powers ascribed to it. Our flail
for according a high place to the
unusual and the dollar mark extends
beyond the purviews of the drawing
room.
The Psychology of Medication
1t is the same physiological twist
that gives to the most evil-tasting
medicine the greatest curative power
in the minds of some patients. A
thing costing a million dollars a
gram ought to do more than some
thing costing six cents pound is
logic Of kind.
Isn't it fact that the average per-
son will have more confidence in a
bottle of medicine costing two dollars
than one costing fifty cents? And
isn't it true that it is more effective
if he is ignorant of its contents than
If he knows exactly what the ingredi-
ents are? Many a patient has been
put into peaceful slumber by a hy-
podermic injection of sterile water,
thinking he was getting a "shot' of
morphine.
Cancer Cures
This was the status of radium at
the time of its introduction. And one
cannot blame the patient with cancer
for grasping at it. They have grasped
at thinner straws than radium, for
.example-Abram's Oscilloclast, Pal
mer's Neurocalometer. "Cures" for
cancer have been legion--from copper
to Chiropractic, from roots to radium
and they afford the most convincing
evidence which could be offered that
there is no cure for cancer. Cancer
is not something normal become alb
normal, hence is not subject to res
toration. Of course, all cures aim at
removal of the cancerous mass but
they are pitifully inadequate.
Value of Radium
Radium is, in my opinion, no ex-
ception to this rule. 1t is now freely
admitted by those with the most ex-
tensive experience in its use that only
when the mass is small and circum-
scribed is permanent eradication pos
sible. Only in early cases is radium
ever effective. In any case it is use
full only in a cancer that is located
where it can be directly irradicated.
This is why cancer of the lip and
<f 81 4I,o ,,to ,oct
amenable to this treatment, whereas
in such locations as the esophagus
and rectum it is practically valueless.
A cancer recurring after an opera
ton is less responsive to the action
of radium than the primary growth;
a recurring growth following previous
irradiation is likewise more resistant
to radium. The "newer" the cells COM
prising the cancer the more respon-
sive is it to the action of radium.
However, despite the fact that in a
rapidly growing cancer the cells are
younger and more radio-sensistive,
such cancer is at least durable. The
results in radium thereby depend to a
considerable degree on the resistance
of the tissue surrounding the cancer
mass, and the rapidly growing cancer
draws heavily on its environs. 1t is
a parasite.
All of which brings us right back
to where we started In discoursing
on this topic one is like man lost
in the woods-he travels continuous
circle. We come back to the same
spot where we stood on this PROPOSE
ton in the beginning: