Document KGbR6y14y3Lvq63d78eERyQ96

February 21, 1955 Dr. Adrien Ver Brugghqn 122 South Michigan Avenue Chicago, Illinois . Dear Doctor Brugghen: On looking into the matter, following our conversation in the University Club in Chicago, 1 find that we (and our associates in Cincinnati} have published little or nothing on the problem of lead poisoning in children since 1933, at which time I put together an. accumulation of data on the normal lead metabolism of lead in infancy and childhood. During that period, however, we have cone quite a bit of investigative work on case material, ourselves being largely in the position of collaborators on the diagnostic (mpre recently on the therapeutic) approach to the problem. Our principal contribution has been that of the application of sampling and analytical techniques as means of interpreting the significance of the exposure to and absorption of lead. These have grown out of our exten sive work on industrial lead poisoning, its diagnosis and prevention. It is because of these developments, no doubt, that the incidence of lead poisoning among child ten in Cincinnati (as well as in Baltimore) appears to be much higher than it is in most cities, l.o. the diagnostic technique, to which pediatricians have been alerted in this medical center, is such that case finding, while not entirely certain, bar. been greatly improved. I send you a list giving the numbers of cases by years, in which it is possible to see the effects of lapses of interest (based cn more concentrated attention to seemingly more urgent matters) on the part of the staffs of the two principal hospitals to which our cases have come. I have no doubt that the actual flow of cases over the last fifteen or t wenty years has undergone but little change. I could be wrong in this, but I hardly think so. I cannot send you the reprints of the articles which may be of interest to you in this connection, but I cite the references on the attached sheet. I have induced the people at the Children's and the Cincinnati General hospitals to begin to get their data together so as to publish a series of articles on their cases. This, I hope, will be done in the near future. Meanwhile I can give you the figures which Sam Trufant gave n:o a few days ago, which bear on the matter which we touched on in Chicago. These also are listed in tabular form on the attached sheet. I can also say that the group here is of the opinion.tentatively, that the use of disodium calcium Dr. Adrien Ver Brugghen - (2) - February 21, 1955 ethvlenediaminetetra acetic acid (officially known as edathamil calciumdisodium), has bean more beneficial in these cases than has any other method ci therapy employed, Obviously the careful examination of the data from a series of cases will be of much more value than these imn re s s ions. I regret that our information is not hi better form, but such as it is, I send it. Cordially yours. RAK ef Sobert A. Kehoe, Ivi. D. HE" 0019914 ! DATA ON CASES OF POISONING (CHILDREN) Mild Cases Cases involving smrgical dec om p ye ~f A Result 2 Favorable outcome 1 Some benefit 5 No benefit 3 Number of cases Cases not involving surgical decompression 3 5 S Favorable out some Some benefit No benefit Number of cases 0 2 3 5 Note: The sad sot of results, especially in the more severexases, convinced the neurosurgeons that their therapeutic intervention was essentially futile, and the procedure has been abandoned. KE 0019915 N20054.01 References On the Normal Absorption and Excretion of Lead IV. Lead Absorption and Excretion in Infants and Children; Journal of Industrial Hygiene 15: 301, 1933. " (See the other articles in this series (page 25 through 340) for sources of lead absorption, amounts in normal tissues, etc. Later articles give more information on adults but hot on children. ) 0019916