Extracorporeal Irradiation of the Blood: Attempted Immunosuppressive Treatment of Active, Non-Alcoholic Cirrhosis

Studies on Lymphocytes during Extracorporeal Irradiation of the Blood in Patients with Active Cirrhosis

“…The clinical results in the four patients treated are presented elsewhere (Ranek et al 1970). However, the application of ECI presents a possibility to investigate certain aspects of lymphocyte kinetics and physiology in man, since only the lymphocytes circulating in the blood are directly affected by the irradiation.…”

“…The irradiation set-up has been described previously (Andersen et al 1968). Three adult patients and one boy were studied (Ranek et al 1970), all with untreated, active, non-alcoholic cirrhosis and serum gammaglobulin concentration above 35 g/l. In one patient, ECI had to be stopped because of a cerebrovascular attack, after a mean cumulative erythrocyte dose of 27,000 rads had been given; this patient died one week later.…”