[Quantitative changes in peripheral T-lymphocytes during hyperthermia (author's transl)].

A uniform, highly significant fall in T-lymphocytes in the peripheral blood, without any change in the absolute lymphocyte count occurred in 6 healthy test subjects in a standardized hyperthermal bath with a mean rise in the rectal body temperature of 1.35 degrees C. A redistribution from the blood into the tissue structures of the rapidly recirculating T-lymphocytes in the body is assumed. The clinical significance of this redistribution cannot yet be stated. With increased recirculation of immunoreactive T-lymphocytes an increased contact with antigenic material in the tissues traversed would be possible. This could be the basis of the "immunostimulation" during hyperthermia assumed by some authors.