One phase of this subject of special interest is that of the use of radium in the treatment of cancer, especially of the neck or lower end of the uterus. There is already sufficient evidence to warrant the statement that some cancers of this region have been permanently cured by radium alone. And as a relief measure in the late and hopeless stages of the disease, radium prolongs life, relieves pain and adds much to the comfort of the victim. It has been amply demonstrated that radium treatment increases the permanency of the results obtained by surgery, and often converts inoperable into operable cases. CHAPTER VI EFFICIENCY OF RADIUM IN TREATMENT OF VARIOUS DISEASES In 1923, Dr. R. E. Loucks, president of the American Radium Society, announced that toxic goiter had been cured by radium. Exophthalmic goiter has been, in most cases, successfully treated by irradiation. Just how the cure is effected is still unknown; for the thyroid body from animals exposed for many hours to the Gamma irradiations of radium bromide shows no perceptible histological changes. Yet far less radiation produces marked changes in the tadpoles derived from normal ova fertilized by spermatazoa which have been radiated in the frog, though no testicular changes can be detected with certainty (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 32, p. 224, 12th Ed.). Among other diseases which have been more or less successfully treated by radium may be mentioned lupus vulgarus, epithelial tumors, syphilitic ulcers, chronic itching of the skin, papillomata (an epithelial tumor formed by hypertrophy of the papillae of the skin or mucuous membrane, as a corn or a wart), angiomata (tumor composed chiefly of dilated blood or lymph vessels), pigmentary naevi (blemish of the skin due to pigment, as a birth-mark), and pruritus (itching). Radium has been particularly effective in treating serious affections of the eyes, as was first fully demonstrated by Dr. Walter S. Franklin and Frederick C. Cordes, of San Francisco. The most brilliant successes of radium have been in those cases “where some serious complicating ailment, such as heart disease, tuberculosis, Bright’s disease, or an extreme anemia, contra-indicates anesthesia or any procedure which will tax the patient’s vital resources; radium steps in and does its work quietly, imperceptibly and, indeed, without the slightest risk to life.”