The use of interstitial radon seeds and needles in inoperable lung cancer

T HE problem of providing palliation to patients with inoperable lung cancer is one of the most discouraging in the field of surgery. In a recent analysis of the efficacy of the various modalities of therapy for lung cancer at this hospital, it was observed that 1205 patients with primary carcinoma of the lung were admitted from 1932 to 1947, inclusive, but that in only forty-nine of these could surgical resections be carried out. (The first resection was performed in 1937.) The remaining 1156 patients fall into the category in which some means of palliation is called for. In most instances in which the patient with inoperable lung cancer could tolerate deep external roentgen-ray therapy, this was the treatment of choice. It has offered the average patient some relief and, in certain instances, has prolonged life.’. 4 , 6, 6 7 , 9 l 4 15 (Certain patients suffer severely from “irradiation sickness,” which may vitiate the palliative benefits derived from treatment.) The administration of deep roentgen-ray therapy usually entails a prolonged and somewhat rigorous course of treatment. The patient must either come to the hospital each day or be hospitalized for a period of time varying from fourteen to forty-five days. Data from this study revealed that the average length of hospital stay in the 820 patients who were treated by roentgen-ray therapy was one and three-tenths months. The average duration of life of these patients after completion of this therapy was the short span of two and nine-tenths months.’ With improved techniques of chest surgery