PERIPHERAL-BLOOD RED-CELL SURFACE ARCHITECTONICS IN PULMONARY-CARCINOMA PATIENTS

Electron microscopic examination of the surface relief of the peripheral blood red cells in 27 untreated male patients with Stages III-IV pulmonary carcinoma, 10 patients with chronic nonspecific pulmonary diseases, and 10 normal subjects has revealed a statistically significant decrease of the discocyte count paralleled by an elevated count of transitory and prehemolytic cellular forms in pulmonary carcinoma patients, as against that in reference groups. Cytometric study of the red cells in patients with tumors has shown an increase in the ratio of the external to internal cellular diameters vs. that in the controls.