Surgical diathermy in breast cancer: The application of the ARC electrode or cutting current to the radical operation
✍ Scribed by John Anderson
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1928
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 1011 KB
- Volume
- 15
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0007-1323
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
WHES we review thc follow-up and end-results of the radical operation for cancer of' the breast we realize that there is great room for improvement. I,eitchl estiniates that only 10 per cent of operated cases will he alive after tcn yeam, and we all have had our disappointments in viewing recurrericc in cases we had looked on as early, accessible, and removable cancer.
Until somc specific method of dealing with the cancer cell has evolved. i t werm that we must concentrate on propaganda and improvement of operative procedurc. It does not appear possible to extend the anatomical limits of' the prcsent-day opcration ; but anything which will improve its techniqiie appears sound.
The arc electrode has been used to replace the scalpel in all my opera-tion\ for mammary cancer during the last four years, and the results over that pcriod seem materially better than thosc obtained whcn using the scalpcl.
I have avoided putting my findings into print at an carlier date because I fully rcalize that even four years is far too short a period to form it convincing opinion on the subject of mammary canccr when the end-rcsults are inconiplete and must remain so for years to come, but I have convinced myself'. and I ventuw to think certain colleagues whose opinion I rcspect, that the procedure is (1) safe, and (2) a distinct advance on the scalpel tliwxtion of neoplastic disease, and worthy of investigation and control I)y otlicr workers. Much work has been done recently on the same lines b j G. A. Wyeth and Howard A. Kclly, and thcir opinions seem voiced in the following quotations from their rcports :--lVycth2 says : " Operating on a cirse of tumour of the bladder, the usual incision was made by the scalpel. The growth was thoroughly exposed by electric. light in the bladder and treated aftcr the tcclinique of monopo1:w endotlierni>. Thc bladder was sutured in the usual way, without drain. -_. -_. * Thc method and results here reportcd have been secured by team work. in which 1 have been responsible for the surgical part, Dr. G . H. S. Milln for the eleetriral, and I h . J . \I. ('lark for thc anaesthetic.
F I ~J 3(.:3.--vanons types of REFERENCES.