RE: Nasal Radium Treatments

[VERNIG.PETER@FORUM.VA.GOV]

Can anybody shed light on the process by which a treatment became
"accepted practice" in the mid 40 to mid 60s time frame of these
treatmens?  This may be murkier because the treatment was not a
"drug" being given and metabolzed by the patient.  I have the impression,
that at least in the early period the process was not formal.  That
is a doctor might try something new on a handful of patients and if it
seemed to work publish a paper.  Other doctors seeing the paper, could
try it or variations and agin publish papers.  At some point some one
might do a study with a dozen or two patients and a like number of controls
and publish a paper that would give the "effectiveness" of the new treat-
ment and perhaps contrast it with existing methods.  But if the FDA
did not have a drug to approve did any agency "approve" a treatment?
 
Thanks to Jim Muckerheide for the report on nasal radium treatments.
 
Disclaimer-The above are my own opinions and are not represented as
those of the Denver VA Medical Center, the Dept. of Veterans Affairs,
or any agency of the U.S. Government.  This message has been reviewed by
nobody.
 
Peter G. Vernig, VA Medical Center, Denver vernig.peter@forum.va.gov