Endoscopic laser treatment was initially applied for gastrointestinal bleeding, but has been actively extended, especially in Japan, to the curative treatment of early upper gastrointestinal cancers. We have treated 10 cases of early gastric cancer and 1 case of early esophageal cancer by Nd-YAG laser radiation, and 2 cases of early gastric cancer by photochemical therapy (PCT) with argon laser + hematoporphyrin derivative. Also, 62 cases of advanced cancer were treated, 10 of the esophagus and 52 of the stomach, for bleeding (18 cases) or stenosis (34 cases). The cases were nonresectable or they were patients who refused surgery. Satisfactory results were obtained by treatment with YAG laser, but have not yet been obtained with PCT. In order to find indications for the possible extension of endoscopic laser therapy to operable cases of early gastric cancer, we studied lymph node metastases in 200 cases of early gastric cancer surgically treated by us. It was found that early gastric cancers (both mucosal and submucosal) measuring less than 2 cm in diameter, of type I, IIa, and IIc (without ulcer scar), had no lymph node metastases and such cases can be treated by local therapy--such as endoscopic laser therapy. In palliative endoscopic laser therapy for complications of advanced gastrointestinal cancers, there are no major problems with active performance. We obtained a high (90%) hemostatic rate in bleeding cases of upper gastrointestinal cancer and a satisfactory (65%) rate of dilating effect in cases of cancerous stenosis at the esophagus and cardia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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Application of non-radioactive europium (Eu3+) release assay to a measurement of human natural killer activity of healthy and patient populations.

Europium (Eu3+) release assay is a non-radioactive method for a measurement of cytotoxicity of lymphocytes and has several advantages compared with a conventional 51Cr release assay. However, the Eu3+ release assay has not been applied to a natural killer (NK) activity measurement of a large number of the human population mainly due to a lack of comparability with the 51Cr release assay. With some modifications of the procedures and careful manipulation of cells, constant and reproducible results were obtained by the Eu3+ release assay. NK activity of several individuals was measured by the Eu3+ release assay and was compared with data obtained by 51Cr release assay performed simultaneously. The obtained values by the two methods were almost identical. We applied the Eu3+ method to measure NK activity of a large number of individuals, including 68 apparently healthy donors and 36 autoimmune and 21 cancer patients. Some of these diseases are known to show abnormal NK activity. The obtained cytotoxicities were mostly consistent with the previously reported data obtained by the 51Cr release assay. These results indicated that the Eu3+ release assay could be used as an alternative method for a measurement of human NK activity of mass population including patients.

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