[Treatment of low-malignancy lymphomas by spleen irradiation]

The spleen was irradiated in 8 patients with chronic lymphatic leukaemia using RTG radiation in doses of 225 to 800 cGy for one treatment course. The follow-up after radiotherapy lasted 12.5 months on average. In 7 cases a considerable reduction was observed in the size of the spleen, and in 6 cases the absolute leucocyte and lymphocyte counts decreased by a mean of 46% and 50% respectively. In patients in late phase of the disease the improvement was short-lasting; 5 patients died (2 from infectious complications). In patients in early phase remissions of 30 months were obtained with normalization of the proportions or T and B cells During the radiotherapy a significant rise was observed in the per cent of granulocytes and a fall of albumin level. Increased gamma-globulin and uric acid levels and decreased hemoglobin level and erythrocyte count were not significant. Variable changes were noted in the platelet count. No bleeding tendency was noted. Spleen irradiation may be used in the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma associated with malignant proliferation prevailing in the spleen, that is in chronic prolymphocytic leukaemia and hairy-cell leukaemia Favourable effects of spleen irradiation were observed in chronic lymphatic leukaemia and this induced us to use this method in our eight cases.