From 1969From to 1976 patients with St. Ia-Ilb cervical carcinoma were treated with the Cathetron (C) and 84 patients with radium (R). Surgery was carried out on 56.4 % of the patients in group C and 60.7 % in group R two weeks after the intracavitary radiotherapy and 51.5 % of the patients in group C and 45.2 % in group R received external irradiation with or without an operation. There was no statistical fifference in the survival between the two treatment groups, the 5-year crude survival rate being 81.6 % for group C and 78.6 YO for group Rand the 3-year crude survival rates 85.1 YO and 83.3 % respectively. Local recurrence of tumour was more frequent in group R (10.7 %) than in group C (3.0 YO) (p=0.03). There were more early complications during or after the Cathetron (10.9 YO) than radium treatment (3.6 %),without any statistical significance, however. No differences were found in operative difficulties or early postoperative morbidity between the two groups during or after radical operations after intracavitary radiotherapy.

Both thermoablation techniques were well accepted by our patients and showed similar and good efficacy and patient acceptance.

Absrruct. From 1970From to 1976,91 patients with St. 1-11 endometrial carcinoma associated with a small uterine cavity (59 cm) were treated with the Cathetron (C) and 125 with radium (R). Surgery was carried out on 59.3 % of the patients in group C and 80.0 % in group R two weeks after the intracavitary radiotherapy and 56.0 % of the patients in group C and 39.2 % in group R received external irradiation with or without an operation. There was no statistical difference in the survival between the two treatment groups, the 5-year crude survival being 79.4 % for group C and 82.4 % for group R, and the 3-year crude survival rates 82.4 YO and 88.0 % respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the local recurrence of tumour between group C (3.3 YO) and R (0 %); nor were the rates of early complications different, 3.3 % in group C against 4.0 % in group R. No differences were found in operative difficulties or early postoperative morbidity between the two groups during or after hysterectomies and bilateral salpingo-oophorectornies after intracavitary radiotherapy.

The treatment of infertility caused by retrograde ejaculation has often been ineffective. The unphysiological composition of the urine is the main reason complicating the recovery of motile sperm. We describe a case of retrograde ejaculation caused by a congenital defect of the internal sphinchter muscle of the urinary bladder. In this case, motile sperm were only recovered if the bladder had been filled previously with artificial culture medium (Ham's F-10) supplemented with the patient's own serum. Two pregnancies followed intrauterine insemination with sperm recovered in this way.

A study was made to compare the incidence, quality and aetiology of complications after low and high dose-rate intracavitary radiotherapy for St. Ia-IIb cervical carcinoma in 185 patients, of whom 84 were treated with radium (R) and 101 with afterloaded Co60 (Cathetron, C), from 1969 to 1976. The frequency of surgery and external irradiation was similar in both groups. There were more (p=O.Ol) complications in group C (27.7 %) than in group R (13.1 %). However, when the single fractions in the Cathetron treatment were lowered from 10 Gy to 7.5 Gy each in 1972, the incidence of complications decreased from 42.4 % to 20.6 % (p=0.02) and the latter incidence was not statistically different from group R. Intestinal complications were more frequent than urological ones in both groups. Low weight was significantly (p<0.025) correlated with the development of complications and previous laparotomy (p=O.OOOl) with the development offistulae in group C.