Single case study. A novel psychiatric adjunct to cancer therapy.

Confronted with the hazards of a patient unable to cooperate predictably with a 3-day radium implantation procedure as a part of cancer therapy, the authors describe in a case report their solution to an unusual clinical dilemma. The patient displayed adverse responses to psychotropics and nursing care was markedly restricted by radiation exposure limits. Behavioral management of the patient through the interval of radium therapy was successfully effected by the use of closed-circuit television monitoring combined with brief nursing interventions. This novel psychiatric adjunct to cancer therapy averted the threat posed by displacement of the radium implants.