Medicine: Capsules, Oct. 12, 1953

¶ On the prospects of a cure for cancer, Dr. Cornelius P. Rhoads. director of Manhattan’s famed Memorial Center (TIME, June 27, 1949), told a congressional hearing: “We can look forward to something like a penicillin for some cancers, and I hope within the next decade.”

¶ To many patients, after a wide variety of operations, one of the worst ordeals is catheterization because a healthy bladder unexplainably refuses to empty normally. In the A.M.A. Journal, two New York City physicians report 90% success in correcting this condition with injections of two new drugs, benzpyrinium bromide and one still unnamed, W341.

¶ There is still no scientific evidence that fancy ingredients in tooth paste, tooth powder, mouth washes or chewing gum will keep teeth from decaying, the American Dental Association declared. Its annual convention (in Cleveland) berated dentifrice advertisers for false claims, also took a swipe at soft-drink peddlers for pretending that their concoctions don’t harm teeth. The association’s rules for dental health: use less sugar, brush teeth regularly with any powder or paste that helps the brush to clean them.

¶ Two Boston doctors reported in the A.M.A. Journal that a drug known as Compound 2601-A is the best thing they have found for controlling the nausea which often follows the taking of drugs, and occurs regularly in such disorders as cancer, ear inflammation and uremia. Also, 2601-A straightens out drinkers who have too violent a reaction from the combination of alcohol and disulfiram (Antabuse).