TITRATED, REGULARLY SPACED RADIOACTIVE PHOSPHORUS OR SPRAY ROENTGEN THERAPY OF LEUKEMIAS

Abstract

THE EVALUATION of a new therapy for chronic leukemias is difficult because of the diverse course of untreated patients, the differing stages of the disease when patients are first seen by a physician, the frequent uncertainty concerning the correct date of onset and the presence of other variables making comparison with published data on other series of patients less satisfactory than the ideally designed experiment. Yet, with a treatment that seems to be giving comfort and years of essentially normal living, the use of alternate or randomly selected, untreated controls in so serious a disease seems unjustified. It is the purpose of this paper to present the principles of a treatment in use since 1941 in sufficient detail that others may be able to use it and to present enough of the evidence of its merits that others may choose to aid in its final evaluation. This of necessity will