Henry Lewis Jones

“ So too in the treatment of rodent ulcer full doses at long intervals are now thought better than smaller doses repeated more often, and such doses are more easily measured by the Sabouraud pastille, which records large doses more simply than small ones, in which the slighter changes of tint are not easy to distinguish.
A great amount of work has been done with X rays for the treatment of cancer, but it is now recognized that the X rays do not cure a cancer, although they are of value for the relief of pain and for the healing of cancerous ulcers. ”

“ In rodent ulcer X rays are usually sufficient to provide a lasting cure, but there are some exceptions, as for instance when the rodent ulcer has been long neglected, and has spread deeply so as to invade bony structures. An important factor in the successful treatment of rodent ulcer by X rays is to continue the applications at intervals for several months after apparent cure. ”

“ The results of X-ray photography had already shown that the tubes employed were capable of emitting radiations of very varying powers of penetration, and that the tubes were by no means constant in this respect; and the question whether highly penetrating rays or rays of feeble penetration were to be preferred for therapeutic use became the subject of much discussion. ”

“ The effects of excessive doses of X rays is to produce an inflammation which may result in painful sores which obstinately refuse to heal for many weeks or months. A quantity up to double that of the usual maximum or pastille dose may be employed in urgent cases without risk of any serious inflammation, but anything over this is to be avoided most carefully. In the treatment of ringworm the exact pastille dose must not be exceeded, for after a dose of about one and a half pastilles the fall of the hair is likely to be followed by permanent baldness. ”

“ The cure of ringworm by X rays requires that all the hair of the affected region shall be caused to fall out, but, nevertheless, it is necessary for obvious reasons that the hair should grow again after the disease has disappeared. ”

“ The treatment by the rays will often succeed in bringing about a healing of the ulceration of lupus, but relapses are frequent, because foci of infection are apt to remain in the healed scar tissue and after a period of quiescence these may gradually provoke fresh mischief. ”

“ Both methods are used, but tube-boxes are the most convenient, and most instrument makers now supply these boxes with suitable windows or openings of different sizes for the passage of the pencil of rays which is to fall upon the part under treatment.
The effect of the rays on healthy tissues is in the main a destructive one, but some of the cells of the tissues are more sensitive to the rays than are others; and this permits of a selective effect being obtained, with the destruction of some cells and not of the whole tissue. ”