1992 Volume 1992 Issue Supplement57 Pages 217-220
At our depertment, head and neck cancers were treated by a combination of Linac Xray preoperative radiation, chemotherapy and aggressive radical surgery followed by primary reconstruction. After the operation, CEZ and FOM were used as prophylaxis of infection.
In this study, we examined the bacteriologic changes of the airway during these treatmeants.
Peudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens were most frequently isolated from the airway after the operation (57%) and even before the operation (14%). The immunological study exhibited the suppressed response to phytohemagglutinin or concanavalin A of the peripheral blood leukocytes of these patients, which may be responsible for the isolation of these bacteria mentioned above.
However, they did not cause any wound i nfections when no surgical problems of skin flaps used for the reconstructions had occurred.
These findings suggest that treatm e nt such as radiation and operation for head and neck cancer induces and immunocompromised state but not infection without surgical troubles. Also the prophylactic administration of CEZ and FOM also did not cause any problems.
