title: Unspecific metabolic blood parameters as used in clinical routine may differentiate malignant from benign cerebral tumors.
abstract: The investigation of rather insensitive metabolic parameters (protein, fibrinogen, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), blood glucose) reveals significant differences between tumor-bearing and tumor-free patients as well as benign and malignant neoplasms. Whereas metastases and glioblastomas (GBM) show significantly elevated BUN levels (21.9 +/- 1.7; 8 +/- 2.2 mg/dl) compared to benign tumors (meningioma WHO I, astrocytoma I, II) (16 +/- 0.9 mg/dl) and tumor-free matched controls (e.g. 13.9 +/- 1.4 mg/dl) only metastases depict higher glucose (141.7 +/- 11mg/dl) counts. Fibrinogen, significantly elevated in malignancy (395 +/- 25.2; 397.2 +/- 25.9 mg/dl) is without difference between meningioma, astrocytoma (253.2 +/- 16.6; 271.5 +/- 16.5 mg/dl) and controls (e.g. 270.1 +/- 10.8 mg/dl). Correlating BUN with total protein reveals a metabolic mismatch to nearly all tumor patients, regardless of dignity, as compared to tumor-free patients. Neuroendocrinoimmunological changes are the most likely reason for these overt as well as occult findings, making investigation of more sensitive metabolic parameters a rewarding task.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurosurgical Pathophysiology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Stover
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Hopf
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perneczky
authors.forename: O S
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Kempski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism; D001806:Blood Urea Nitrogen; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008579:Meningioma / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D012189:Retrospective Studies