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The prognostic significance of serial seromucoid analyses in patients with cancer
Author(s) -
Harshman S.,
Reynolds V. H.,
Neumaster T.,
Patikas T.,
Worrall T.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197408)34:2<291::aid-cncr2820340212>3.0.co;2-v
Subject(s) - medicine , orosomucoid , mucoproteins , chemotherapy , prednisone , cancer , gastroenterology , glycoprotein , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
Serial seromucoid determinations have been done on 213 patients with various kinds of cancer. High seromucoid values in patients with continued clinical disease were obtained in 57 of 61 patients. In patients in clinical remission, normal seromucoid values were obtained in 116 of 120 patients. of the 32 patients with proven clinical recurrence or metastasis, 17 had, as expected, high seromucoid levels, while in the remaining 15 patients the seromucoid values were normal. of the 15 patients with normal seromucoid values, 6 were on prolonged pharmacologic doses of prednisone, and 4 had local, small recurrence on the skin. We have interpreted our results as being consistent with the view that under physiological conditions, elevated seromucoid levels are initiated by induced stress, of which cancer growth is one type. This view is supported by our observation that the extent of postsurgical increase in seromucoid value is correlated with the extent of trauma at operation. A rare case in our study, illustrating a cancer patient in remission, but with continued elevated seromucoid levels due to a complicating chronic non‐neoplastic disease, is presented. That high seromucoid values may return to normal values within a few weeks after beneficial chemotherapy is illustrated in a case successfully treated with 5‐fluorouracil. From the data presented, we conclude that high seromucoid values are induced by stress and that, with reservation, serial seromucoid determinations are a useful prognostic aid in patients with cancer.