[Cytogenetic studies of the effects of 5-fluorouracil in vivo]

Cytogenetic analysis was carried out of the culture of peripheral blood lymphocytes of 10 healthy donors and 40 patients with malignant tumours of digestive tract treated with 5-fluorouracil. The frequency of cells with chromosome aberrations in the lymphocyte culture of the patients before the treatment was significantly higher than that in the healthy donors. The difference in the frequency of the aberrant metaphases between treated and intact patients was statistically insignificant.