Evening star., 1949-02-18
Exploding Gold Proves
Potent Against Leukemio
Radioactive Metal Prolonss Life,
But Is Not a Real Cure
By Thomas r. Henry

Exploding gold" Is proving q potent
weapon against dreaded leukemia-the pro-
liberation of white corpuscles which Is closely
related to cancer and which almost invar.
iably is fatal.
Success in producing remissons Of the
disease is reported by DR.. Paul F. Hahn,
director of the cancer research laboratory
Of Meharry Medical College at Nashville.
The radioactive gold, he emphasizes. is
not "cure" Science is as far as ever
from this goal. But it is one of the most
effective means of prolonging life. Other
treatments used have been total X-radiation
of the body and doses of radioactive phos-
phorus. The gold isotope provided from the
atomic furnaces of the Atomic Energy Com
mission also is being used to treat Hodgkin's
disease which produces enlargement OF
spleen and liver.
This new form of gold. Dr. Hahn said, il
nonpoisonous and relatively inexpensive. 1t
can be given to patients in their homes. thus
saving the disqualification required for X-ray
treatments, which can be given only in
limited amounts daily to avert injury to
the skin.
The cost now quoted by the Atomic Energy
Commission is 13 cents per millicurie. This
is an infinitesmally small amount But 20 to
so millicuries are sufficient to produce
temporary remission in an adult suffering
from chronic leukemia.
The gold sotope has an ideally short half
life-2.7 days In this period half of any given
number of atoms will have exploded. This
is long enough to produce the desired ef-
fects but not long enough for the radio
active material to act as a poison. A dose
remains effective for week or more, con-
stantly growing weaker and weaker.
With this isotope, DR.. Hahn said. it IL
possible to give far greater amount Of ra-
djatjon without damage than with X-ravS
Effects of high -energy radiations on water.
which constitutes about 80 per cent Of all
living tissue are being studied in Atomic
Energy Commission laboratories.
Here may lie the explanation of the highly
poisonous effect of total body radiation. such
as would come from an atomic bomb explo-
sion. which was observed among survivors In
the bombed japanese cities.
clearer understanding is urgent. says
DR.. A. o. Allen of the Brookhaven labora-
tory.
1t is known that pure water is decomposed
by powerful radiations into its constituent
elements, hydrogen and oxygen. There also
Is trace of hydrogen peroxide. The amount
of decomposition depends. however, on what
type of rays is involved. DR.. Allen says:
with X-rays the reaction comes to halt
when only a very little decomposition has
occurred Dissolved materials in the water
often are decomposed even when no effect
on the water itself can be found
But the charged particles Of helium
called alpha rays which are emitted by the
heavier radioactive substances-notably "a
dium, uranium and plutonium-have a far
different total effect. When bombarded by
alpha rays the water itself continues to
break down, whereas the dissolved materials
are affected to lesser extent.
Radiation effects in living tissue are
caused in large part by the breaking down Of
chromosomes in the nuclei of cells. Biolo-
gists are not agreed on how this occurs.
Some believe radiation must hit the chromo-
some directly Others think the effect is in
direct brought about by action on the
chromosome by-products of radiation on the
water and other surrounding materials.
Some of our recent evidence favors the
latter yieW"s -