For almost half a century, the University of Chicago Clinic has been home to one of the grand centers of gastroenterology in the United States; and Walter L. Palmer, the editor of this book, has been one of the deans of American gastroenterology. His learned clinical and research studies illuminated the halls of that clinic.
In 1937, Dr. Palmer and his colleagues began an intensive if uncontrolled study on how the course of peptic ulcer was affected by irradiation of the gastric fundus. A third of a century later, this monograph appears in an up-to-date tally sheet for this admittedly controversial therapy given to 2,200 peptic ulcer patients. For the physician who does not wish to wade through the details of ten chapters well written by his associates, Dr. Palmer has provided a 13-page summary of the apparent beneficial effects of irradiation.
The editor and the authors take the position