Evolution of plasma vitamin B 12 in patients with solid cancers during curative versus supportive care

Abstract

Introduction The direction of the causal link between solid cancers and elevated plasma vitamin B 12 (B 12 ) remains uncertain. Material and methods We retrospectively included patients having two B 12 measurements with a B 12 initially ≥ 1000 ng/l and a solid cancer diagnosed between the measurements. Patients were included in the Curative or Supportive group according to their treatments. Results B 12 changes over time differed among groups ( p = 0.001): +157.4 ng/L/month in the Supportive care group versus -171.6 ng/L/month in the Curative care group. Conclusions The decrease of plasma B 12 in cases of curative care could suggest that this B 12 elevation is secondary to solid cancers.

Keywords

• vitamin b 12
• neoplasms
• neoplasm metastasis
• antineoplastic agents