[Treatment of tumors of the urinary bladder with so-called immunopotentiators]

Eighty-eight cases of urinary bladder tumor were treated in our Department from 1976 to 1978. The effect of so-called immunopotentiators (OK-432, Levamisole and PSK) was studied in 23 patients. The following results were obtained. Pretreatment intracutaneous response to PHA was significantly lower in the high stage and high grade group than in the low stage and low grade group (P less than 0.025). However, there was no correlation between the effect of immunotherapy and PHA skin reaction. Of the immunoglobulins, only IgM was significantly lower in the high grade group than in the low grade group (P less than 0.025). The one-year survival rate for the patients in the high stage group was higher receiving immunotherapy than those not treated. This suggests that immunotherapy may be useful for prolonging the survival time of patients with advanced bladder carcinoma.