Actinotherapy Technique
Hanovia
1933
 
CONTENTS
 
Title Page

Foreword

Introduction

Part I
    I.  PHYSICAL DATA
    II.  PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
    III.  DOSAGE
    IV.  DOSAGE:  LOCAL IRRADIATION
    V.  LUMINOUS HEAT AND INFRA-RED RAYS

Part II
    ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF INDICATIONS AND DETAILS OF TECHNIQUE

Part III
    SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF BOOKS AND PAPERS
 
Illustrations
        Figure 1: ENERGY DISTRIBUTION OF STANDARD SOURCES
        Figure 2: SKIN AND TISSUE REACTIONS
        Figure 3:  APPLICATORS FOR THE KROMAYER LAMPS
 


ACTINOTHERAPY TECHNIQUE
An outline of indicaations and methods for
The use of modern light therapy.
 
WITH FOREWORD BY
SIR HENRY GAUVAIN,
M.D., M. Chir. (Camb.), F.R.C.S. (Eng.)
 
SLOUGH
The Sollux Publishing Co.
(First published in 1933)
 
 FOREWORD

    To the increasing number of practitioners, using ultra violet and allied therapeutic radiations, a handbook on Actinotherapeutic Technique which is informative but not diffuse, is an essential requisite.
    Many admirable text books have appeared and, in addition, a mass of literature, in the form of original papers, so extensive and so scattered that it is beyond the powers of the majority of us to collect and assimilate.  This handbook endeavours, and I believe very successfully, to supply a real need.
    With the aid of this book the practitioner, with the requisite apparatus, has at hand, in convenient form, an aid to special technique in treatment which is practical, illuminating and helpful.
    How many of us in practising light treatment have been presented with unusual or unfamiliar conditions for which we would have been grateful for the experience of others in their management?
    If such help is, at times, desired by specialists in this branch of therapy, it will be even more appreciated by those whose acquaintance with these aids to cure are more limited.  The numerous references given to authoritative literature should prove of immense assistance.
    I congratulate the compilers of this handbook on their diligence and on the care they have taken in its compilation.  They have done their work with commendable thoroughness.  I feel honoured in having been invited by the publishers to write this Foreword, and on behalf of my medical colleagues, I thank them for having placed this valuable volume at our service.  I belive that it will be regarded as indispensable to all engaged in the practice of actinotherapy.

Morland Clinics,                                                                     H. J. GAUVAIN

Alton, Hants.


Introduction
 
    This book is intended as a working tool for those qualified to practise actinotherapy.  In no sense can it replace the existing works of reference, but it does attempt to give a reliable epitome of their contents.
    The arrangement of the book falls into two parts.  The introductory section provides a brief outline of actinotherapy, in different aspects.  Part II is an alphabetical list of conditions in which light therapy has been applied, with outlines of the technique which has been used, and references to literature.
    Nearly 1000 books and papers have been correlated to build the outlines of a technique which is substantiated by reliable authorities for each indication mentioned.
    The titles of these books, and references to papers, are given to assist the reader in obtaining fuller information.  There has been no attempt to form any complete bibliography of actinotherapy.  The inclusion of any work has been governed by three practical considerations:
  • That its writer has personally treated the condition (or describes work not otherwise available).
  • That technique, case historis, etc., are stated.
  • That the publication has not abeen superseded by later work and is reasonably accessible to  medical readers.
    To avoid needless repetition, the detailed reference to any work is given once only in this book (with a few exceptions, made for obvious reasons).  Ordinal numbers have been added so that additional references are readily found.  The titles given under any condition therefore occur in two groups:--

    (a)    Books and papers which deal specifically with that condition, quoted in full bibliographical form.
    (b)  Works of wider scope which yet furnish specific information on that condition, quoted by numerical references only, and easily traced by the running reference entries which head each page.

    So far as possible, the references include reproductions or abstracts in “The Quartz Lamp” (Newark or Slough editions) and other physiotherapeutic journals.
    In a work planned for compact format and easy reference, it is obviously impossible to give more than guiding outlines of technique.  These will need adaptation to the requirements of each case individually:  the physician is treating patients and not diseases.  For clearness and simplicity, the technique data are stated for certain standard types of actinic sources.  It is emphasized that they should not be applied unchanged to other types of apparatus.
    In a work intended for use by qualified practitioners of medicine, it should be superfluous to point out that most ailments call for due use of the triad which includes physical therapy (of which actinotherapy is one branch) with medicine and surgery.  The scope of this book precludes detailed notes on concomitant therapeutic measures; reference is made to these only when they present some special phase of interaction with actinotherapy.  At the same time, the use of actinic radiation does not in any sense restrict the practitioner’s therapeutic resources; rather does it enlarge them by supplementing and assisting the action of other measures.
    The compilers or publishers will welcome any suggestions or corrections from the medical profession which may help to make the book more fit for its purpose, and so to assist, however humbly, in the advancement of medical science towards its ultimate goal of mastering disease.

1933
HANOVIA.