Incidence of appendectomies and tonsillectomies in cancer patients

Abstract

The incidence of appendectomies and tonsillectomies in 300 cases of cancerous patients was 21 and 23%, respectively, as compared to 19 and 24% of the same respective surgical procedures in 200 patients in similar age groups suffering from diseases other than cancer, consecutively admitted to the same institution. This would indicate that the over-all incidence of the above surgical procedures in both groups is nearly the same. However, in the cancerous group the appendectomies in the time span of 16 years or less prior to onset of cancer were significantly higher than in the control group. The same observation barely can be extended to the tonsillectomized cancerous patients. A speculative impression based on recent immunological advances in function of similar organs in animals would suggest that already failing immunological mechanism in the group of patients “designated” to develop cancer is weakened further by additional reduction of lymphoid cells.