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The Construction of Radium Plaques, with a Description of a New Calculating Appliance

London Hospital

This excerpt was created in the absence of an abstract.

Radium plaques are being used extensively for the treatment of carcinoma, and they form a convenient and efficient means of applying radium whenever carcinoma arises upon an accessible surface. They find their chief use in carcinoma of the skin and in the mucous membrane of the buccal cavity, whilst we have, on occasion, used them with success as implants in dealing with carcinoma more deeply situated. They present the great advantage that the sources of emanation, whether radium or radon is used, can be distributed with great accuracy according to any predetermined plan, so that the total source of radiation is accurately determined and the calculation of radiation received at any point in the tissues is a simple problem of physics. Where they are applied superficially they present the further advantage that no operative interference of any kind is required.

In the construction of such plaques, however, two problems arise which are by no means easy of solution, and their complete mathematical solution is, in fact, impossible. We have, however, arrived at a practical solution which is sufficiently accurate for all clinical purposes, and the use of which requires no knowledge of physics and only the simplest of calculations. The first of these problems is to distribute the radium on the surface of the plaque in such a manner that all the points within the tissues at the same depth from the surface of the plaque shall receive the same radiation.

Received for publication April 3, 1936.