Brachytherapy
Volume 9, Issue 2 , Pages 178-184, April 2010

Howard Kelly establishes gynecologic brachytherapy in the United States

This article was first presented at the 2008 annual meeting of the American Brachytherapy Society.

  • Jesse N. Aronowitz

      Affiliations

    • Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Radiation Oncology, Levine Cancer Center of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, 33 Kendall Street, Worcester, MA 01605. Tel.: +1-508-334-6550; fax: +1-508-334-5624.
    • ,
  • Roger F. Robison

      Affiliations

    • Bloomington, IN, USA

Received 22 January 2009; received in revised form 27 September 2009; accepted 2 October 2009. published online 21 December 2009.

Abstract 

Purpose

Exploration of Howard Atwood Kelly's contributions to gynecologic brachytherapy.

Methods and Materials

Review of contemporary journals, texts, newspaper accounts, and the memoirs of Kelly's associates. Information from unpublished material, including Kelly's handwritten notes and diaries, was culled from the Alan Mason Chesney Archives of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

Results

Despite European reports of radium's efficacy, gynecologists on both sides of the Atlantic resisted its adoption. The endorsement of radium therapy by America's foremost gynecologist, Howard Kelly, was instrumental in its acceptance. His consummate skill as clinician, investigator, publicist, and entrepreneur established brachytherapy as the primary treatment modality for carcinoma of the cervix and vagina. The technique he pioneered in the second decade of the 20th century, a combination of brachytherapy and megavoltage-equivalent teletherapy, presaged modern practice.

Conclusion

Principles for the management of female genital neoplasia, outlined by Howard Kelly nine decades ago, remain relevant today.

Keywords: Radium, Radon, Brachytherapy, Carcinoma of the uterine cervix, Howard A. Kelly, History of medicine

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PII: S1538-4721(09)00330-4

doi:10.1016/j.brachy.2009.10.001

Brachytherapy
Volume 9, Issue 2 , Pages 178-184, April 2010

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