THE EFFECTS OF BIOCHEMICAL THERAPEUSIS IN CARCINOMA OF THE PROSTATE

Abstract

In June 1940 Drs. Huggins and Clark presented an exhibit at the meeting of the American Medical Association in New York which demonstrated the fact that the administration of diethylstilbestrol to dogs with benign hyperplasia of the prostate resulted in atrophy of the epithelial cells and a decrease in the total bulk of the prostate gland. In the following August a patient with an extensive inoperable malignant prostate gland presented himself for treatment. His general condition was such that no surgical or instrumental procedure was justifiable. With the idea in mind that, if diethylstilbestrol produced some change in the biochemical soil in the dog which resulted in atrophy of the prostatic epithelial cells, estradiol dipropionate or similar biologic substances might modify the soil of a human being with prostatic carcinoma in such a way that carcinoma cells might atrophy, this patient was given 1 mg. of estradiol dipropionate by injection