CAXCER ANAEMIA 607 



METABOLISM OF IRON BEFORE AND AFTER TREATMENT WITH 



RADIATION 



Fourteen of the cervical cancer patients, studied by Dal Santo, 

 who had been found clinically healed after single radiation treatments 

 by the chief of the clinic Kottmeier, were investigated by Lockner 

 about 1 year later. The high iron metabolism and also the increased 

 plasma volume were fully or partly normalized. The iron transport 

 was found lowered from 0.96 mgm/hr per litre R. B. C. to 0.76 mgm (7^ < 

 <C 0.001); the plasma volume and the volume calculated per kgm of body 

 weight were also lower. A minor fraction of the enhanced iron meta- 

 bolism observed before the treatment can possibly be attributed to 

 bleeding. Most of the enhancement of the iron metabolism, however, 

 cannot be explained by bleeding anaemia; rather must we regard the 

 curtailment of the life-time of the erythrocytes, as is also shown by life 

 determinations using red corpuscles labelled with ^^Cr, to some extent, 

 to be responsible. This curtailment producing anoxia leads to an increas- 

 ed iron turnover. 



Summary 



The chief cause of cancer anaemia is a curtailed life-time of the red corpuscles 

 as is shown by various researches performed in this field. The curtailed life-time 

 is partly the result of extracorpuscular factors, such as the presence of destructive 

 agencies in the plasma and activation of the reticulo-cndothelial system, and 

 partly to a formation of abnormal blood corpuscles. The curtailed life-time of 

 the blood corpuscles is partly or wholly compensated by a more rapid re-formation 

 of erythrocytes. 



The erytrocytes of many of the cervical cancer patients who were studied 

 had a curtailed life-time before treatment; the iron metabolism was shoAvn to 

 be increased as a result of the presence of hyperplasia of the bone marrow; the 

 plasma volume also was enhanced. A year after radiation treatment there was 

 mostly a normal life-time of erythrocytes in the now clinically healthy people. 

 The iron metabolism and the plasma volume exhibited normal or reduced values. 



References 



1. S. C. Shen and F. Hombubger, J. Lab. Clin. Med. 37, 182 (1951). 



2. J. PuTNOKY, Z. Krehsforsch. 39, 30 (1933). 



3. A. Taylor and M. A. Pollack, Cancer Res. 2, 223 (1942). 



4. J. FuRTH and H. Sobel, J. Nat. Cancer Inst. 7, 103 (1946). 



5. R. H. Storey, L. Wish and J. Furth, Cancer, Res. 9, 331 (1949). 



6. N. I. Berlin, G. M. Hyde, R. J. Parsons and J. H. Lawrence, Cancer 

 8, 796 (1955). 



7. K. n. Kelly, H. R. Bierman and M. B. Shimkin, Cancer Res. 12, 814 (1952). 



8. P. Bernfeld and F. Homburger, Cancer Res. 15, 339 (1955). 



