X-RAYS FOR MALARIA
Reading edition
An Italian physician, Dr. Antonio Pais, of Venice, has since 1916 been successfully treating malaria by means of X-rays. This treatment is, however, not employed as a substitute for quinine, but merely to reinforce its action. The X-rays are directed toward the region of the spleen, and the effect is to reduce its enlargement. At the same time the composition of the blood is modified. The success obtained by Dr. Pais has, according to the Bibliothèque Universelle et Révue Suisse (Lausanne), been so great that the Italian Government decided to introduce his method of treatment into the military hospitals.
Since the war the treatment has been studied by Prof. B. Grassi, who made a report, at an Italian scientific meeting, in which he declared the action of X-rays upon chronic malaria to be “truly marvelous.” The Bibliothèque Universelle says, regarding earlier treatments:
“The attempt was made by them to destroy the parasite contained in the spleen. But it is now known that the X-rays employed for therapeutic action have no effect upon micro-organisms, although they may be injurious to the elements of the blood. In the method devised by Dr. Pais, the X-rays are employed to stimulate the functioning of the spleen, of the marrow, and of the lympathic elements by means of slight but prolonged excitation; they are employed in infinitesimal doses—homeopathically, so to speak. Thus the result is absolutely different as well as the method.”
Dr. James B. Murphy demonstrated that accompanying cancer grafts on immune animals there occurs a general increase in the circulating lymphocytes and hyperplasia of the lymphoid tissue. When the lymphoid tissue of immune animals was destroyed, the immunibility was annulled. Two methods of increasing the lymphocytes have been found, namely, diffuse small doses of X-rays, and dry heat. Mice with lymphocytosis induced by these agents show Increased resistance to replants of their own tumors. The results afford ground for hope of human application. (Reported in Scientific American Monthly, January, 1920, page 96.)
It has been found that actively growing tissue, whether normal or pathological, is the most susceptible to X-rays, and it is comparatively easy to sterilize a number of species of animals without otherwise injuring them. (Prof. James W. Mayor, Science, September 23, 1921.) C. R. Bardeen found that X-rays prevent worms from regenerating lost parts. Observations of the effect of exposure to X-rays on the fertility of animals were described in a paper by Prof. L. H. Snyder of the North Carolina College of Agriculture. Exposure of male rats to X-rays, he said, had rendered them sterile at the end of two months, the animals regaining fertility when no longer subjected to the rays.
If not handled with due caution and skill, X-rays may do more harm than good, provoking malignant growths as well as retarding their development. As early as 1911, Otto Heese published a record of 54 cases of cancer caused by means of improper handling of these powerful rays.
In the early days of X-ray therapy the nature and effects of these radiations were wholly unknown. Operators did not hesitate to test and adjust their tubes by throwing the shadow of their hands on the flouroscope. X-rays do not make objects visible to the human eye, and to see the effects of them it is necessary to interpose a special screen between the eyes and object through which the X-rays are to penetrate. The cardboard screen is coated with a fluorescent substance, such as barium-platinum-cyanide, or calcium tungstate. This screen is best placed in one end of a black wooden or pasteboard box, against the other end of which the eyes are placed when in use.
This screen under the influence of X-rays becomes luminous and enables one to see shadows or silhouettes of objects of denser material interposed between the eyes and the X-ray tube, when the tube is in operation.