Asthma in children; treatment with the radium nasopharyngeal applicator.

This report is a preliminary evaluation of the effect of radiation of the nasopharynx in the treatment of proved cases of asthma in children. Many investigators have reported that tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy are valuable procedures to reduce the frequency of asthmatic attacks in children. This beneficial effect, however, often gives only transient measures of relief because of the rapid recurrence of lymphoid tissue in many young persons after surgical removal of the adenoids. Because of a shortage of hospital beds in 1940 and 1941, many children who required tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy were sent instead to the Radon Clinic for irradiation of the nasopharynx. This clinic had been originally established for the treatment and prevention of impaired hearing. In 1941 Ward 1 of the Department of Otolaryngology observed that irradiation of the nasopharynx decreased the severity and frequency of attacks of asthma in children who were afflicted with this disease. Although