Abstract
We have been devel-oping an extracorporeal Granulocyte/Lymphocyte regulation system in vitro and in vivo studies. The purpose of this study is to apply this system to patients with far advanced cancer patients and assess the efficacy of this system. The system was con-structed with a pump and a column containing 22, 000 beads of cellulose acetate. Blood flow was 50 ml/min, and circulating time was 30 min. Two patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, 2 with metastatic liver cancer and 3 with metastatic lung cancer were treated with this system 2 or 3 times a week, and this treatment was performed 15 times. Adhesion rate of granulocyte and lymphocyte to beads were 11% and 10% just after circulation, 11% and 7% after 5 min., 12% and 3% after 10 min., 29% and 10% after 15 min., 32% and 10% after 20 min. and 35% and -2% after 30 min., respectively. Lymphocytes were not reduced so much. However granulocytes adhered to beads after 15 min. Platelets and fibrinogen were also reduced during circulation. After circulation, 5.5×108 of white blood cell were obtained from column by washing out. Four patients showed marked im-provement of performance status, and all patients showed improvement of pain, malaise, loss of appetite and bloody sputum. In 1 patient with hepatocellular carcinoma, the level of AFP was reduced after treatment. These results indicate that this system might be useful for improvement of complaints in patients with terminal states of cancer.
