Alterations of white blood cell histograms before and after radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy in oral cancer patients

The patterns of the white blood cell histogram, which showed white blood cell differentials by size through electrical resistance, were evaluated for oral cancer patient. The alterations of their patterns coincided with those of white blood cell differentials by morphological analysis on the manual smears. White blood cells, especially, lymphocytes and monocytes, have a close relation to the immunocompetence for cancer paient as already reported. Therefore, the white blood cell histogram will have a possibility to use as a simple immunocompetent parameter, when further direct study related to the immunocompetency is performed. The patterns of the white blood cell histograms in the course of the radiotherapy were different depending on the antitumor agent combined. The differences of the patterns were clearly observed in the region of the lymphocytes and the monocytes.