摘要:

The early attempts to use radiant energy in the treatment of eye disease form a dark and calamitous chapter in the history of radiotherapy. The unhappy consequences of such therapy, aided by a great deal of primitive and unsound experimental work, served to retard for a generation its development and applications to ophthalmology.Today, however, the radiotherapist approaching the special problems of ocular disease is sustained by the tremendous advance in the knowledge of the physical nature and properties of the agents used and by their dramatic increase in variety and number. These remarkable advances in the field of physics would be of little value had no reliable knowledge of the effects of radiation on the eye under clinical and experimental conditions also been simultaneously acquired. Such knowledge, withal incomplete and occasionally uncertain, permits the newer physical agents to be used without the risks of repeating the technical errors and encountering the ocular disasters which hitherto have helped surround radiotherapy with an impenetrable barrier of fear and distrust.In the past 12 years at the Royal Marsden Hospital, chiefly as a result of its fortunate association with Moorfields Eye Hospital, there has been excellent opportunity to study the applications of radiotherapy to ophthalmology. In the first half of this period the oldest, the sturdiest, and the most trusty of all isotopes, namely radium, was alone available and exclusively used. As the newer artificially produced radioactive substances became available, so certain of them have been chosen for use in eye work.

DOI:10.1259/0007-1285-29-337-1

出版商:The British Institute of Radiology    

年代:1956

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

An account is given of two methods of using182Ta wire in γ-ray applicators, for the treatment of certain diseases of the eye. Dose distributions for the applicators can be readily computed and measured. Data, including isodose curves, for a typical applicator are presented.The platinum-sheathed tantalum wire is manufactured by Johnson, Matthey&Co. Ltd.

DOI:10.1259/0007-1285-29-337-13

出版商:The British Institute of Radiology    

年代:1956

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

β-ray emitting ophthalmic applicators, using strontium 90 foil, have been developed following earlier work with phosphorus 32. Details are given of these strontium 90 applicators, which have the form of spherical caps. A number of physical investigations of these applicators are described. Dose-rate variations across the surface were studied using a scintillation probe; the same instrument was used to find the variation of dose-rate with depth in tissue equivalent material, and to compare the dose-rate from the applicators with that from a plane sheet of foil. The method used to determine in absolute units the surface dose-rate from this plane foil, and hence from the applicators, is also described. Surface dose-rates for applicators at present in use are of the order of 100 rad/min.

DOI:10.1259/0007-1285-29-337-15

出版商:The British Institute of Radiology    

年代:1956

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Overactivity of the thyroid occurs in such varying degrees that at one extreme patients may be unaware that they are ill whilst at the other the disease is potentially fatal.The symptoms of hyperthyroidism can change from time to time with the severity of the disease. Moreover the same symptoms may be exacerbated by bouts of insomnia, debility and general disorders. Physical examination usually enables the more severe degrees of hyperthyroidism to be diagnosed with reasonable probability, but the milder forms present the clinician with serious diagnostic problems.When the diagnosis cannot be made or excluded at the first consultation the aid of special tests is usually sought. In some of these cases measurements of the effect of rest on the pulse rate, the basal metabolic rate and the blood cholesterol, together with repeated observation of the patient, enable the correct diagnosis to be reached. In others even after careful investigation the diagnosis may still be in doubt. The last conventional test, a trial of the therapeutic effect of antithyroid drugs, is time consuming and again often inconclusive.The need for a test capable of detecting hyperthyroidism of a sufficient severity to warrant therapy has long been felt. Thyroid tissue metabolises a high proportion of the iodine in the body but the amounts concerned are small and measurements of it are difficult. Where facilities for its determination exist the amount of iodine bound to protein in the blood is a useful test of thyroid function.

DOI:10.1259/0007-1285-29-337-24

出版商:The British Institute of Radiology    

年代:1956

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

A patient died of acute leukaemia 28 months after her hyperthyroidism had been effectively treated with 7·1 mc of radioiodine. This dose is unlikely to have caused radiation of more than 100 reps in relevant extrathyroid tissues.

DOI:10.1259/0007-1285-29-337-31

出版商:The British Institute of Radiology    

年代:1956

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Using autoradiographic techniques, a study has been made of the non-uniformity of radioactivity distribution and radiation dosage in human thyroid glands following administration of131I to the patient.The ratio of the maximum to the mean radiation dose in the gland has been measured for a number of different cases and the significance of the findings is briefly discussed.

DOI:10.1259/0007-1285-29-337-36

出版商:The British Institute of Radiology    

年代:1956

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

“Considerations of the Limits of Radiation Dosage from Thorotrast”, by J. Rundo, November, 1955.

DOI:10.1259/0007-1285-29-337-41

出版商:The British Institute of Radiology    

年代:1956

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

At the Geneva Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, from August 8 to 20, 1955, some 450 papers were read and discussed, and apparently a further 600 which were not read are to be included in the Proceedings. Any report such as this can necessarily only be a record of a few personal impressions, and those requiring more detailed information should refer to the Proceedings which are about to be published by the United Nations Organisation. Five of the 16 volumes are to deal with medical applications of isotopes, biological actions of radiations, biochemical and physiological studies, safety precautions and dosimetry. In the following report the numbers of the papers referred to are given in brackets.Practically all the applications of radioactive isotopes in medicine which were discussed at the Conference have been published previously in various clinical journals. However, owing to language difficulties and the inaccessibility of the relevant publications the greater part of the work done in the U.S.S.R. has not been generally available; there was consequently a not inconsiderable interest in what the Russians would have to say and to show.A paper on teletherapy devices was given by Dr. Brucer (179). This included figures relating to the economics of some 1360Co installations in operation in the U.S.A. It would appear that consideration is also being given to the production of small units using europium 152 and 154. Prof.

DOI:10.1259/0007-1285-29-337-42

出版商:The British Institute of Radiology    

年代:1956

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This work is now in hand, with a view to a new List being published as early as possible in 1956.

DOI:10.1259/0007-1285-29-337-47

出版商:The British Institute of Radiology    

年代:1956

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Two cases of gastric syphilis are described, one of them being of congenital origin and proved histologically. The various types of gastric syphilis are presented as evolutionary stages in these two cases and demonstrated radiologically.The results of antisyphilitic treatment are shown to be great anatomical improvement in the case of linitis plastica and anatomical restoration to normal in the case of the advanced tumour type.A review of the literature is submitted.

DOI:10.1259/0007-1285-29-337-48

出版商:The British Institute of Radiology    

年代:1956

数据来源: WILEY