Extracorporeal chemotherapy with L‐asparaginase in man

An extracorporeal chemotherapy unit has been used in baboons and man. Blood was perfused over plates coated with L-asparaginase in 4 hour perfusion studies. It was possible to lower serum asparagine levels almost to zero, and to render both human and animal lymphocytes unreactive to mitogenic stimulation. The toxicity associated with L-asparaginase was avoided and the potential application of this technique to the treatment of human lymphatic leukemia is discussed.