Immunological investigation and immunotherapy in patients operated on for breast carcinoma.

The tumor-host relationship is an essential factor in the onset, development, and recovery from malignancies. A basic consideration in the treatment of cancer patients must therefore be to understand this relationship and attempt to modify it in order to favor the host. We here discuss the results of a study of the immunologic status of 91 breast cancer patients.

[Breast cancer: a dynamic approach of cellular immunity and immunostimulation with an immunoadjuvant: P40 fraction. (author's transl)].

The study of the immune status of breast cancer patients with delayed hypersensitivity skin tests reveals a clear immune deficiency in comparison with a reference patients group. This immunstatus was significantly improved by an immunstimulation with the P40 fraction. The responsive capacity to an immunstimulation appears independant of the lymphnodes involvment, whereas, on the contrary, the initial degree of immune deficiency appears connected.

[Thyroid carcinoma. Indications and results of treatment (author's transl)].

Frozen section histological study of all cold nodules requiring total extracapsular lobectomy is absolutely essential during surgery. Whilst total thyroidectomy for intracapsular carcinomas is most often proposed in extracapsular carcinomas, the authors deliberately leave a small part of the gland in contact with the parathyroids. The need for recurrent laryngeal lymph node dissection is accepted, as is the principle of jugulo-carotid dissection.