THERAPEUTIC VALUE OF RADIOISOTOPES IN A GENERAL HOSPITAL

Consideration of the value of radioactive isotopes as therapeutic agents in a general hospital naturally requires an assessment of their characteristics and usefulness, either as substitutes for less available or less safe instruments presently at hand or as a means to appreciably advance the treatment of disease. The value of any physical agent or drug depends in some degree on its qualities and properties but more importantly on the knowledge, skill, and intelligence of those who apply it. Such is particularly true of the radioactive isotopes, for which there is no antidote and in whose administration there is no reversible reaction. In fact, the isotopes are more dangerous for both the giver and the recipient than those agents that were previously used, and certainly will be more hazardous than helpful if those who attempt to employ them are not fully prepared both physically and intellectually and blessed with better than