[Prognostic value of studying the cellular immunity in ulcerative lesions of the stomach]

Altogether 138 patients with peptic and mediogastral ulcers were examined for cellular immunity. Long before the disease took an unfavourable course marked by frequent relapses and chronic ulcers or the occurrence of ulcer malignancy the patients showed immunodeficiency which correlated with the gravity of the disease clinical manifestations or with the degree of the symptomatology of a complication. At the same time there was a rise of the suppressor activity of T lymphocytes and a reduction in the D lymphocyte count, especially in the patients with gastric ulcer malignancy. It is concluded that the methods of cellular immunity studies should be introduced in medical practice on a broader scale in order to predict the character of the course and complications of gastric ulcers.