Enhancing effect of thoracotomy and/or laparotomy on the growth of ascitic tumor in rats.

To evaluate the effect of operative stress on a tumor growth, thoracotomy and/or laparotomy were performed 48 hours after the intraperitoneal inoculation of Sato lung cancer cells in Donryu rats. The survival time and the spread of the tumor were examined. Thoracotomy and laparothoracotomy reduced significantly the survival time of the inoculated rats as compared with the control but no significant difference was observed between the two test groups subjected to operative stress. No difference was observed in the spread of the tumor between the test groups and the control. These results indicated that the operative stress increased only the number of metastatic foci and did not change the characteristics of the tumor cells.