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Lymphocyte subpopulations of the spleen were assayed in 26 patients with gastric cancer and 5 patients with benign disease using two-color flow cytometric analysis. The ratio of Leu 2a+.Leu 15+ cells, or suppressor T cells, in the gastric cancer patients was about 6 per cent, being higher than that in the patients with benign disease (p less than 0.05). There were fewer Leu 7+.Leu 11- cells, or natural killer-NK-cells, in the gastric cancer patients in stage III or IV than in those with stages I or II (p less than 0.05). The ratio of Leu 3a+.Leu 8- cells, or helper T cells, in the stage IV patients accounted for about 15 per cent of the splenic lymphocytes, which was less than that seen in the patients in stages I or II (p less than 0.05). The ratio of Leu 2a+.Leu 15- cells, or cytotoxic T cells, was approximately twice that of suppressor T cells. The pre-operative administration of lentinan plus OK-432 increased the ratio of Leu 4+.HLA-DR+ cells, or activated T cells, and cytotoxic T cells (p less than 0.05 and p less than 0.01, respectively). The above results suggest that lymphocyte subpopulations in the spleen may have more immunosuppressive potential in proportion with the stage of gastric cancer, but that this reduced immune state may be altered when lentinan and OK-432 are given to these patients.

We herein report the case of a 69-year old woman presenting with an abdominal mass, who was found to have a mixed mesodermal tumor (MMT) of the cecum. Imaging studies and endoscopic investigations were consistent with the diagnosis of a nonepithelial malignant tumor of the cecum. On laparotomy, a knuckle-sized firm mass involving the cecum was noticed. As a result, a right hemicolectomy was performed. Pathological examinations, including immunohistochemical staining, resulted in the diagnosis of mesodermal mixed tumor, homologous type. The patient was advised to undergo postoperative chemotherapy but she did not comply. She has been followed up as an outpatient and is still alive 1.5 years after the operation.

With microwave tissue coagulator (MTC), partial resection of the liver have been performed in 28 cases (12 hepatocellular carcinomas, 13 metastatic liver cancers and 3 cancers of the gallbladder, in which the primary and metastatic lesions were 3cm or less in diameter.The procedure of partial resection of the liver with MTC is as follows: First, a monopolar-antena is inserted around the tumor and the tissue is irradiated for 1 minute (40 seconds for coagulation and 20 seconds for dissociation). This "one minute irradiation" is repeated along the tumor border, point by point, until complete coagulation is made. Then the lesion is enucleated by sharp dissection. The vessels on the cutting surface, 1mm in diameter or larger, are ligated. This procedure does not require the exposure and blockade of hepatic vessels at the hilum.No severe postoperative complications such as bleeding were observed except the development of intra abdominal abscess in 3 cases and the leakage of bile juice in one case. MTC is a useful, safe and reliable surgical apparatus for partial resection of the liver, when a hepatic lesion is less than 3cm in diameter in the absence of the main vessels around the lesion, or when surgions are attempting to carry out resection of the liver floor for gallbladder cancer.

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