[The immune status of patients with irradiated testicular neoplasms]

The authors present the results of investigations of the immune reactivity of 72 patients irradiated for testicle tumors. The responses to tuberculin and DNCB (2.4-dinitrochlorobenzol) were examined before the treatment, within twelve months after radiotherapy and three years after radiotherapy and when metastases appeared. After radiotherapy, the number of positive responses was slightly decreased in both examination methods, but the difference was in no case significant. Patients with metastases showed a significantly decreased response to DNCB compared to the results obtained before radiotherapy. 5.6% of the patients had suffered from herpes zoster. The incidence of other infective diseases was not increased. The conclusion is drawn that the moderate immunosuppression caused by radiotherapy does not exert any influence on the further way of living of patients with testicle tumors.