what radiation was used for cancer treatment in 1960

Full Answer

How long has radiation been used to treat cancer?

Within months, systems were being devised to use x-rays for diagnosis, and within 3 years radiation was used in to treat cancer. In 1901 Roentgen received the first Nobel Prize awarded in physics. Radiation therapy began with radium and with relatively low-voltage diagnostic machines.

What was the Cold War radiation experiment on black patients?

Cold War Radiation Experiment on Black Cancer Patients (1960-1971) From 1960 to 1971, Dr. Eugene Saenger, a radiologist at the University of Cincinnati, led an experiment exposing 88 patients with cancer, poor, and black to whole body radiation. By this time, the use of whole body treatment had already been discredited cancer treatment for...

What is the history of radiation therapy?

The history of radiation therapy or radiotherapy can be traced back to experiments made soon after the discovery of x-rays (1895), when it was shown that exposure to radiation produced cutaneous burns. Influenced by electrotherapy and escharotics — the medical application of caustic substances — doctors...

What was the evidence of radiation-induced cancer in the 1950s?

Human evidence in the 1950s was thin --- because remarkably little epidemiologic inquiry had been undertaken, to find out if there were delayed effects from medical radiation. But evidence was far from absent. For example, human evidence of radiation-induced Cancer already included the following (and more):

How was cancer treated in the 1960s?

Surgery and radiotherapy dominated the field of cancer therapy into the 1960s until it became clear that cure rates after ever more radical local treatments had plateaued at about 33% due to the presence of heretofore-unappreciated micrometastases and new data showed that combination chemotherapy could cure patients ...

When was radiation first used for cancer treatment?

On January 29, 1896, just three days after announcement of the discovery of X-rays, the E. H. Grubb company, a vacuum tube manufacturer, applied X-rays for the first time in cancer treatment at the suggestion of doctor Ludlam [1,2]. A single treatment was performed for about one hour in breast cancer patients.

How was cancer treated in the 1950s?

Prior to the 1950s, most cancers were treated with surgery and radiation. During the period 1949–1955, the only marketed drugs for the treatment of cancer were mechlorethamine (NSC 762), ethinyl estradiol (NSC 71423), triethylenemelamine (9706), mercaptopurine (NSC 755), methotrexate (NSC 740), and busulfan (NSC 750).

Is radium still used to treat cancer?

Radium is no longer used for cancer treatment. After World War II, it became possible to create man-made radioactive elements (radioisotopes) in nuclear reactors, instead of isolating radium from uranium ore.

When was radium banned?

1968Companies were banned from using radium in consumer products in 1968. But many other toxic “forever chemicals” still contaminate our workplaces and everyday products, including mercury, formaldehyde, asbestos, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

When was radium last used?

Many of these workers developed bone cancer, usually in their jaws. Eventually, scientists and medical professionals realized that these workers' illnesses were being caused by internal contamination from the radium they ingested. By the 1970s, radium was no longer used on watch and clock dials.

How was breast cancer treated in 1960?

The vogue in the 1950s and 1960s was the idea that “if it comes back then it means you didn't do a big enough operation.” In that era, increasingly radical surgery was carried out, involving removing not only the breast but also all the underlying chest muscles and lymph nodes under the arm.

How was breast cancer treated in the 1950's?

American surgeons in the 1950s often performed a highly disfiguring operation--the extended radical mastectomy--for women with cancers of the inner half of the breast. Removal of breastbone and ribs, in addition to the breast and chest wall muscles, enabled surgeons to take out as many cancer cells as possible.

Which is the first approved chemotherapy drug in 1962?

The clandestine, government-sanctioned treatment of an anonymous patient at Yale University, New Haven, Conn., signified the first therapeutic use of ni- trogen mustard, a mysterious compound that had been under investigation since its devastating use as a chem- ical weapon during World War I. Dr.

What kind of cancer does radium cause?

Exposure to Radium over a period of many years may result in an increased risk of some types of cancer, particularly lung and bone cancer. Higher doses of Radium have been shown to cause effects on the blood (anemia), eyes (cataracts), teeth (broken teeth), and bones (reduced bone growth).

What is radium used for in 2021?

Radium's main practical use has been in medicine, producing radon gas from radium chloride to be used in radiotherapy for cancer.

What types of cancer does radium treat?

Radium-223 is a small molecule. It uses radiation to kill cancer cells and improves survival in advanced prostate cancer. Researchers want to see if it can treat prostate cancer and induced immune changes earlier in the disease when the cancer is only detectable by prostate specific antigen (PSA) in the blood.

Development of radiotherapy

The 1960s were a time of change.

Neutron therapy

In February 1963 a series of 8 papers from the Medical Research Councils Cyclotron Unit were published.

The linear accelerator

Three papers on recent developments in the linear accelerator appeared in March 1962 and are worth a look. CW Miller from Associated Electrical Industries reviewed the continuing developments ( Miller BJR 1962; 35 (411): 182-187 ), R Beadle and MG Kelliher from Vickers Research Ltd.

The role of oxygen

The position of oxygen in radiotherapy was discussed by I Churchill-Davidson from St Thomas’s Hospital in May 1966 ( Churchill-Davidson, Foster, Wiernik et al BJR 1966; 39 (461): 321-331 ). In the mid-1960s many radiotherapy departments had already installed high-pressure oxygen treatment facilities or were installing them.

The Cathetron

The Cathetron is a remotely controlled “after-loading” unit using a high activity cobalt source and reduced the treatment time to a few minutes. The unit was designed to produce the same dose distribution as the Manchester radium technique.

Chemotherapy

The number of agents for chemotherapy increased adding to the armamentarium of the oncologist. PE Thompson Hancock from the Royal Free Hospital recounted his experience with Myleran (Busulphan) in the treatment of reticuloses in September 1961 ( Thompson Hancock BJR 1961; 34 (405): 573-577 ).

Fractionation

How radiation should be given was being actively researched. LG Lajtha, R Oliver and F Ellis from Oxford looked at the rationalisation of fractionation in radiotherapy in October 1960 ( Lajtha, Oliver and Ellis BJR 1960; 33 (394):634-635 ) based on the multi-hit nature of X-ray dose response curves.

When was radiation first used?

The history of radiation therapy or radiotherapy can be traced back to experiments made soon after the discovery of X-rays (1895) , when it was shown that exposure to radiation produced cutaneous burns. Influenced by electrotherapy and escharotics — the medical application of caustic substances — doctors began using radiation to treat growths and lesions produced by diseases such as lupus, basal cell carcinoma, and epithelioma. Radiation was generally believed to have bactericidal properties, so when radium was discovered, in addition to treatments similar to those used with x-rays, it was also used as an additive to medical treatments for diseases such as tuberculosis where there were resistant bacilli.

Why did doctors use radiation?

Influenced by electrotherapy and escharotics — the medical application of caustic substances — doctors began using radiation to treat growths and lesions produced by diseases such as lupus, basal cell carcinoma, and epithelioma.

What was the first treatment for tuberculosis?

After using radium in the surgical treatment of tuberculosis, researchers including Béla Augustin and A. de Szendeffy soon developed a treatment using radioactive methyholated iodine, which was patented under the name dioradin (formed from "iodine and radium") in 1911. Application of this treatment was referred to as iodo-radium therapy, and involved injecting dioradin intramuscularly. It seemed promising to the developers, because in several cases, fever and hemoptysis had disappeared. Inhalation of iodine alone had been an experimental treatment for tuberculosis in France between 1830 and 1870.

Why is radium used in bath salts?

The radium commonly used in bath salts, waters, and muds was in low-grade preparations, due to the expense, and their usefulness in curative solutions was questioned, since it had been agreed upon by physicians that radium could only be used successfully in high doses. It was believed that even radiation emanation at higher doses than were useful would cause no harm, because the radioactive deposits were found to have been absorbed and released in urine and waste within a period of three hours.

What are the advantages of radium xrays?

The most marked effects produced with radium therapy were with lupus, ulcerous growths, and keloid, particularly because they could be applied more specifically to tissues than with x-rays. Radium was generally to be preferred when a localized reaction was desired, while for x-rays when a large area needed to be treated. Radium was also believed to be bactericidal, while x-rays were not. Because they could not be applied locally, x-rays were also found to have worse cosmetic effects than radium when treating malignancies. In certain cases, a combination of x-ray and radium therapy was suggested. In many skin diseases, the ulcers would be treated with radium and the surrounding areas with x-rays so it would positively affect the lymphatic systems.

What is radium used for?

Radiation was generally believed to have bactericidal properties, so when radium was discovered, in addition to treatments similar to those used with x-rays, it was also used as an additive to medical treatments for diseases such as tuberculosis where there were resistant bacilli.

What is particle therapy?

Particle therapy is heavily used in Nuclear Radiology / Nuclear Medicine (radiopharmaceutical therapeutic agents are based on alpha particles, beta particles, or auger electrons), and to some extent in Radiation Oncology (external electron therapy and recent emerging modalities for external proton therapy).

How many people died from radiation in the 1960s?

Within a month of radiation, 21 of 88 people in the experiment died.

Who conducted the whole body radiation experiment?

1960–1972: Whole-body radiation experiments. December 29, 2014. 1960–1972: University of Cincinnati Medical School researchers led by Dr. Eugene Saenger conducted whole-body radiation experiments on 88 patients its charity hospital — 62% of who were African American. These experiments may have caused the most deaths and they spanned the most years.

Is radiation effective for solid tumors?

Dr. David Egilman, a clinical associate professor of community health at Brown University, has argued that it was known that total body radiation was not effective for the types of solid tumors the patients had.

What was the first drug used to treat cancer?

1942 – First chemotherapy drug mustine used to treat cancer. 1947 – American Dr. Sidney Farber induces brief remission in a patient with leukaemia with the antifolate drug aminopterin ( methotrexate) 1949 – US FDA approves mechlorethamine, a nitrogen mustard compound, for treatment of cancer.

How was cancer traditionally treated?

Cancer was traditionally treated with surgery, heat, or herbal (chemical) therapies. 2600 BC – Egyptian physician Imhotep recommended producing a localised infection to promote regression of tumours. According to the Ebers medical papyrus, this was done by placing a poultice near the tumour, followed by local incision.

What drugs were used in the 1950s?

Coley leads to the disuse of immunotherapy for cancer, in favor of Dr. Ewing's preferred radiation therapy. 1950s – Anti-cancer anthracyclines isolated from the Streptomyces peucetius bacteria. Anthracycline-based derivatives include: daunorubicin, doxorubicin, amrubicin, idarubicin.

When did the FDA approve tamoxifen?

1977 – US FDA approves tamoxifen for metastatic breast cancer only, not widely popular as chemotherapy remains first line of treatment. 1981 – American Dr. Bernard Fisher proves lumpectomy is as effective as mastectomy for breast cancer. 1989 – US FDA approves Carboplatin, a derivative of cisplatin, for chemotherapy.

When was the first bone marrow transplant performed?

1956 – First bone marrow transplantation performed by E. Donnall Thomas in order to treat leukemia in one of two identical twins, the healthy twin being the donor. 1957 – Introduction of fluorouracil to treat colorectal, breast, stomach, and pancreatic cancers.

When did the FDA approve mechlorethamine?

1949 – US FDA approves mechlorethamine, a nitrogen mustard compound, for treatment of cancer. 1949 – Oncolytic viruses began human clinical trials. 1951 – Dr. Jane C. Wright demonstrated the use of the antifolate, methotrexate in solid tumors, showing remission in breast cancer.

Who invented cryotherapy?

1820s – British Dr. James Arnott, "the father of modern cryosurgery ", starts to use cryotherapy to freeze tumours in the treatment of breast and uterine cancers. 1880s – American Dr. William Stewart Halsted develops radical mastectomy for breast cancer. 1890s – German Dr. Westermark used localized hyperthermia to produce tumour regression in ...

When was radiation first used for cancer?

Radiation came first, pioneered in 1896 by a medical student, Emil Grubbe, barely a year after Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays.

What was the first anti-cancer drug?

Anti-cancer drugs made their entrance in the 1940s. In a grim paradox, the first was nitrogen mustard , a poison gas used to slaughter soldiers in the trenches of the First World War. Soldiers who survived exposure to it suffered the destruction of their lymphocytes – white blood cells – and needed regular blood transfusions. This selective action against a particular type of cell suggested that nitrogen mustard might be used to treat lymphoma, a tumour of the lymph system. It worked and nitrogen mustard , rechristened mustine, became the first licensed chemotherapy agent.

What was the first surgical innovation?

The discovery of general anaesthesia in the middle of the 19th century set off a golden age of surgical innovation. The American surgeon William Halsted pioneered radical cancer operations, attempting to outpace tumour growth by more and more extreme removal of tissue, in the belief – only partly true – that recurrence meant that some of the tumour had been left behind. He proved that surgeons could remove cancers, but whether patients were thereby cured was less clear. Some were, most were not.

What was the first chemo drug?

It worked and nitrogen mustard, rechristened mustine, became the first licensed chemotherapy agent. Other drugs appeared in rapid succession, some triggered by biological insight, others by pure guesswork. One of the most striking of the former was aminopterin.

How does radiation work?

They did not fully understand why, but we now know that the treatment worked by breaking the DNA that is found in every cell and controls the process of cell division. Radiation kills healthy cells as well as cancer cells, but cancer cells are easier to kill because they are dividing faster.

Why did the first cancer hospital in France move from the city of Reims?

1779 The first cancer hospital in France is forced to move from the city of Reims because people feared the disease would spread throughout the city. 1838 German pathologist Johannes Müller demonstrates that cancer is made up of cells and not lymph, but he believes cancer cells did not come from normal cells.

Where did cancer originate?

3000 BC The earliest known description of cancer is in an ancient Egyptian textbook on trauma. Known as the Edwin Smith Papyrus, it describes eight cases of tumours or ulcers of the breast that were removed by cauterisation with a tool called the fire drill. The document says of the disease: “There is no treatment”.

Overview

Early development of radiotherapy (1895–1905)

The imaging properties of x-rays were discovered, their practical uses for research and diagnostics were immediately apparent, and soon their use spread in the medical field. X-rays were used to diagnose bone fractures, heart disease, and phthisis. Inventive procedures for different diagnostic purposes were created, such as filling digestive cavities with bismuth, which allowed them to be seen through tissue and bone.

Further development and the use of radium (1905–1915)

Commercialization, quackery, and the end of an era (1915–1935)

Radiation therapy today (1935–)

Notes