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Cobalt therapy is the medical use of gamma rays from the radioisotope cobalt-60 to treat conditions such as cancer.Beginning in the 1950s, cobalt-60 was widely used in external beam radiotherapy (teletherapy) machines, which produced a beam of gamma rays which was directed into the patient's body to kill tumor tissue.
Between 1958 and 1972, the Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio became the first hospital in Central Ohio to develop an extensive cobalt therapy program, where the use of cobalt-60 became the dominant radiation source for treating patients with cancer. In 1973, 30-year-old Joel Axt was hired by the hospital as the resident physicist ...
The role of the cobalt unit has largely been replaced by the linear accelerator, which can generate higher energy radiation. [4] [5] Nonetheless, cobalt treatment still retains some applications, such as the Gamma Knife, since the machinery is relatively reliable and simple to maintain compared to the modern linear accelerator.
This prototype was designed to produce slit-like radiation lesions for functional neurosurgical procedures to treat pain, movement disorders, or behavioral disorders that did not respond to conventional treatment. The success of this first unit led to the construction of a second device, containing 179 cobalt-60 sources.
1900 – Swedish Dr. Stenbeck cures a skin cancer with small doses of radiation [4]; 1920s – Dr. William B. Coley's immunotherapy treatment, regressed tumors in hundreds of cases, the success of Coley's Toxins attracted heavy resistance from his rival and supervisor, Dr. James Ewing, who was an ardent supporter of radiation therapy for cancer.
A professor with the University of Texas at San Antonio has created a new method to kill cancer cells that are traditionally difficult to eradicate. New cancer treatment method causes cells to ...