LATE DAMAGE FROM ROENTGEN IRRADIATION OF THE HUMAN BRAIN

Abstract

The heads of 3 deteriorated young patients with schizophrenia were irradiated for the purpose of investigating the effect of roentgen rays on the permeability of the barrier between the blood and the cerebrospinal fluid.¹Exposure was made through six portals, with a 180 to 270 per cent erythema skin dose for each portal, calculated to give an even distribution through the brain of about 400 per cent erythema skin dose.²Each course was completed in three days. There was some indication in 2 cases that the permeability was increased at the end of four and one-half and six and one-half weeks, respectively, after irradiation, which seems to parallel the histologic changes in theFrühreactionof irradiated dogs, as described by one of us (W. S.).³ There remains to be determined whether the dose and timing of the roentgen exposures were safe from the standpoint of late damage