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Intracavitary Placement of Radium, Interstitial Implantations, and Instillations

Milton Friedman, MD

JAMA. 1968;206(12):2722-2723.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Radiation therapy of any tumor, and particularly bladder cancer, is best accomplished whenever possible by an interior radiation technique, ie, a single radium capsule placed in the center of a 30-cc Foley balloon (the Walter Reed technique), or by inserting radium needles or radioactive tantalum (¹⁸²Ta) wire sources into the tumor. These produce higher cure rates than external irradiation, while minimizing irradiation of adjacent normal tissues.

Despite the superior results of these interior techniques,^13-16 they are used in few clinics. Their unpopularity is probably due to the complexity of the techniques and the considerable time and effort required of the radiotherapist-urologist team to executive them. The most commonly employed program for treating papilloma and low-grade papillary carcinoma consists of repeated transurethral resections followed by external irradiation when the neoplasm becomes aggressive. Its popularity, despite the relatively poor results, is probably due to its relative simplicity. It is unfortunate . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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