M 42
The radiological examinations referred to in the above table were carried out at the request of the following:-
Government medical officers (in-patients)
Government medical officers (out-patients)
Officers of the University Units
Medical officers at Chinese hospitals and private practitioners
4,374
3,176
2,101
580
173. The radium which had been generously loaned to the Government Medical Department by the Trustees of the Granville Sharp Estate was returned to the Trustees on the 23rd of March, 1939.
Fifty-two and a half milligrammes of new radium were purchased in "cells" holding 7.5 milligrammes and were brought into use at the Queen Mary Hospital on the 28th of September, 1939. The flexibility of this method of packing, which is a great improvement upon that previously held, is such that, within the limits of the small amount available, any method of radium treatment can be undertaken.
174. When funds are available to effect further purchases—and it is to be noted that the price has risen very considerably since the outbreak of the European war—it should be possible to lessen the amount of "handling" of any individual case.
175. The radium now available has been used almost entirely for cancer of the uterus and for supplementary irradiation of surface cancer. Thirty-seven treatments were given, the supply being in use for 60 per centum of the time from the 28th of September to the 31st of December.
176. The installation of the deep X-ray therapy plant was completed in January, 1939, and was put into use in the following month. Treatment was given to some 149 cases. The physical measurement of the output could not be determined very accurately; but a start was made during the year to equip a radiation physics laboratory. Little could be done in connexion with the physical side of the work until the return to the Colony of Mr. D. F. Davies, M.A., of the University of Hong Kong, who had kindly volunteered his services and who spent part of 1939 in special studies at the Royal Cancer Hospital, London.
177. Cases treated by radio-therapy included the following:-
(i) Malignant disease:-
Table XXY. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma 17 Other cancer of upper air passages 12 Carcinoma of breast 16 Ditto-sterilization only 2 Carcinoma of uterine cervix 14 Carcinoma of body of uterus 2 Other carcinoma of female genital organs 7 Skin, epithelioma 2 Skin, basal cell carcinoma 1 Sarcoma, various 2 Bone tumours 2 Epithelioma of penis 1 Carcinoma of stomach (malignant peritonitis) 1 Lymphepithelioma 1 ? Lymphosarcoma (? branchial carcinoma) 1Page 405
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