In 121 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck region who were treated with either surgery or radiotherapy, the values of immunological parameters were estimated during an interval of this series of clinical investigation.
As the parameters of the cellular immunity, peripheral blood lymphocyte counts, T cell counts and PHA blastformation rate were selected.
As the parameters of the humoral factors, serum immunoglobulins, complement components (C
3, C
4), CH50, CEA and alpha-1-antitrypsin were selected.
The cellular immunity evaluated by the parameters decreased by radiotherapy and by surgery. In comparison to prompt recovery of the decreased immunity by surgery, its decrease by radiotherapy lasted much longer. Cellular immunity evaluated 3 months before death showed marked decrease.
The values of the parameters of the humoral factors showed high before the treatment but returned to the normal range after the treatment. The values, however, increased again to the pretreatment level in patients whose prognosis were poor.
Since the values of the parameters influenced by the clinical stage of the patients or by the treatment, time factors must be taken into consideration when the parameters of cellular and humoral immunity are interpreted.
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