A decades-old treatment using X-rays may be more successful against gangrene than modern techniques
It was too late to amputate – the fast-moving gaseous gangrene, which started with a knee wound after an automobile accident, had already reached the 21-year-old patient’s groin. The surgeon, Dr. J.R. Dwyer, approached Dr. James Kelly in the X-ray department. Could he somehow help?
As recounted by Dr. Kelly: “When we saw the patient with Dr. Dwyer and other consultants the morning after he was admitted, he appeared far beyond the reach of any surgical procedure, was comatose and apparently, as one surgeon expressed it, ‘regardless of what is done he will die.’ ”
This was Aug 28, 1928 in St. Catherine’s hospital in Omaha, Neb. In the 1920s, radiation was often used to treat patients with infections but never an infection as serious as gas gangrene, an especially virulent form of gangrene. With no other options left, Dr. Kelly decided to treat the patient as he would others suffering infections, with two treatments of low-level radiation a day. He administered the first treatment immediately.
“We returned to the hospital that evening to treat him again. We were surprised to find him alive, but our real surprise came the following morning when we found him sitting up in bed. He had completely recovered from the coma, and his general condition was much better. We treated him twice that day and finished the series of treatments during the next few days. During this time all evidence of the disease disappeared and the tissues improved considerably. Amputation was not necessary.”
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