Annual report : 1932/33 / King Edward VII Sanatorium, Midhurst.

  • King Edward VII Sanatorium (Midhurst, England)
Date:
1933
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report : 1932/33 / King Edward VII Sanatorium, Midhurst. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    36/48 (page 30)
    TUBERCULOSIS OF THE LARYNX AND ARTIFICIAL SUNLIGHT TREATMENT.* BY Sir StClair Thomson, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.C.S. LARYNGOLOGIST TO KING EDWARD VII SANATORIUM, MIDHURST ; EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF LARYNGOLOGY IN KING’s COLLEGE HOSPITAL, LONDON. Some years have passed since the therapeutic use of artificial light—violet rays, ultra-violet light, etc.—reached what we may call its “ boom ” period. In early days some investigators promptly followed, with brilliant results, the sage advice of the French savant in regard to new remedies : ‘‘ Hatons-nous de les utiliser pendant qu’elles sont encore efficaces. But in certain common conditions— such as debility in children, catarrh, the common cold, rheumatism, etc.—where good results might have been looked for, reports have been available for some time, and are mostly disappointing. In a disease so slow in complete healing and so kaleidoscopic in its behaviour as tuberculosis, an investigation must necessarily take a long time. It is also difficult to assess the value of any new form of treatment which has to be carefully compared with the well-established results of sanatorium methods and the reliable assistance of the galvano-cautery and thoracic surgery. Seven years have therefore elapsed since the consulting medical staff recommended the council of King Edward VII Sanatorium to install the necessary outfit at Midhurst. This advice was based on the encouraging reports received from various sources. The light treatment at that time was warmly recommended in tubercu¬ losis of the larynx, and it was claimed that as many as 55 per cent, of cures could be obtained by employing this remedy. As our own efforts, based on the first ten years’ experience of 477 cases under the best sanatorium conditions, (i) had only allowed us to claim 25 per cent, of cures in all cases, we were naturally anxious to test a method recommended by esteemed authorities in several countries. I do not propose to sketch the history of the method nor to supply a bibliography, although I have carefully studied both, for, unfortunately, my own experience at Midhurst has failed to confirm the earlier commendations. * Read in the Section of Tuberculosis at the Centenary Meeting of the British Medical Association, London, 1932, [Reprinted from the British Medical Journal, of November igth, 1932. by permission.]