Evolution of Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital

A history of radiation oncology at the Massachusetts General Hospital [MGH] is one component of the hospital, as such will be considered in the context of the history of this academic medical center extending from 1811 to the present. Similarly, the hospital evolved out of the long history of medicine and science. Selected developments/events during that pre-MGH era will be discussed. §Curative medicine and effective public health programs were virtually absent from the human scene until the mid nineteenth century. This is despite serious efforts of large numbers of physicians during that time. This contrasts sharply with the very impressive advances in science and technology from the first phases of civilization. These include language, writing, non-medical science, the arts, agriculture, construction, warfare and others. Then beginning in approximately 1850, medical effectiveness, both in terms of public health and the management of the individual patient, has progressed at a remarkable and accelerating rate. Quite realistically, the future appears to be one of sustained medical advances. §The history of man s minimal knowledge of curative medicine up to ~ 1850 is manifestly relevant to an appreciation of the sudden and dramatic gains in medicine and oncology post 1850. Consider the very important advances between 1850 and 1900, viz public health measures to provide clean water and improved nutrition, general anesthesia, antiseptic obstetrics and surgery, and the discovery of x rays and their immediate use in imaging and therapy.