Chemosurgical Treatment of Cancer of the Extremities and Trunk

SYSTEMATIC microscopic control of excision is the chief advantage of the chemosurgical method of cancer treatment. This control makes possible, in effect, the selective destruction and removal of cancer tissue with the consequent dual advantages of reliability and conservatism. The method is limited to the treatment of neoplasms in regions of the body sufficiently accessible for the use of a stage by stage procedure. The development and general applications of the method have been described,¹as has its use in the treatment of cancer of the lip,²nose,³ear,⁴eyelid,⁵face,⁶and skin.⁷The present article concerns the technic used and the therapeutic results obtained in the treatment of cancer of the extremities and trunk. TECHNIC The chemosurgical technic will be described by means of the report of a case of cancer of the thumb. The patient, a dentist, for thirty-five years had made a practice of holding dental