Serum Lactate Dehydrogenase Level in Patients with Head and Neck Malignancy Treated with Radiotherapy

Abstract

Introduction: Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Early detection followed by properly planned treatment usually increases the life expectancy of the patient but unfortunately most of the common available diagnostic tools detect tumor when it is more than 5mm in size and hence the prognosis is poor. If micro nuclear level alterations due to malignancy are detected with sufficient sensitivity and specificity, it might prove to be an effective tool in management of cancer. Few of the serum enzymes play a pivotal role in this regard and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is an important biochemical tumor marker among them. The aim of the present study was to analyze the significance of LDH in head and neck malignancies treated with radiotherapy as a diagnostic and prognostic tool. Methodology: Serum LDH levels were analyzed before, midway and at completion of radiotherapy and monthly follow up for six months in 90 biopsy proven head and neck cancer cases treated with radiotherapy. Results: It was observed that in all the malignant cases the pretreatment enzyme level was much higher [293 .6±36.9IU/L] than that of control group [168.5±27.271U/L]. Further, it was observed that as the radiotherapy progresses, the serum LDH levels decreases and during follow-up in the patients with no apparent disease activity, the levels approached near to that of the control group. Serum LDH showed significant association with the disease activity. Conclusion: Findings of the study indicates that serum LDH may be a prognostic tool in head and neck malignancies and the treatment strategies can be optimized accordingly.

Keywords

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