[Assessment of the surgical risk by skin tests of cell-mediated reactivity and other methods]

In examining some procedures of general evaluation of the operative risk the Authors direct their attention to the performance of cell-mediate reactivity skin tests and consider a set of 42 patients (of whom 11 as controls, and 31 "high risk"). The results obtained are interesting and evidence the high reliability of these tests in evaluation of infective morbidity and mortality in neoplastic and non-neoplastic patients: in fact a negative response means high morbidity and mortality while a positive response corresponds to normal surgical healing. In tumoral patients, moreover a relationship between skin tests and clinical stage of the disease is observed: negativity of the test means a terminal stage and hence absolute inoperability: positivity corresponds to an advanced stage and hence relative operability (exploratory laparatomy and thoracotomy). The Authors conclude by stressing that the tests have a practical utility and prognostic value higher than those of other methods.