Abstract
Pre-and postoperative cellular immunity in 64 cases of head and neck cancer was investigated using counts of total lymphocytes, T-lymphocytes, and CD4 (cluster of differentiation 4) positive subsets. CD8 (cluster of differentiation 8) positive subsets were low three days postoperatively, but improved after one month. PHA (phytohemagglutinin) blastoformation depression was detected in twenty patients pre-and postoperatively. In 55% of the patients with depressed PHA blastoformation, recurrent cancers were observed several months after PHA (phytohemagglutinin) blastoformation disturbance was detected. It is suggested that monitoring postoperative lymphocyte activity may play a role in detection of head and neck cancer recurrence.
