Early effects of radium therapy on natural killer (NK) activity in patients with gynaecological malignancies.

The effect of radium therapy on NK activity in patients with gynecological cancer is presented. Patients were tested before treatment, immediately after treatment and at 1 week intervals for 2 weeks. NK activity in patients before treatment was not statistically different from the normal controls. There was a statistically significant decrease of NK activity after treatment compared to pretreatment value (p less than 0.001). After 1 week NK activity reached pretreatment value and did not change a week later. Radium therapy does not result in a long lasting depression of NK activity, the important host defense mechanism.