title: Evaluation of the clinical usefulness of measuring urinary excretion of 5-S-cysteinyldopa in melanoma: ten years' experience of 50 patients.
abstract: The urinary excretion of 5-S-cysteinyldopa (5-S-CD) is known to be increased in certain patients with melanoma. To evaluate its diagnostic and prognostic utility, we measured the urinary excretion of 5-S-CD on at least three different occasions in 50 patients with melanoma. No significant increase was found in 26 patients without metastases, in 10 patients with regional lymph node metastasis and 2 patients with amelanotic melanoma. However, all the 12 patients with distant metastases demonstrated a significant increase. The patients with 5-S-CD > 1,000 micrograms/day survived for a mean of 8.1 +/- 5.6 months, while those with 5-S-CD > 10,000 micrograms/day survived for 3.5 +/- 3.7 months. All the 4 patients with a maximum excretion of 5-S-CD > 40,000 micrograms/day had multiple liver metastases. In conclusion, while data on the urinary excretion of 5-S-CD was not useful in the detection of early regional lymph node metastases, its increase indicated the presence of distant metastases and also provided prognostic information.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Naka
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Takeshita
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishikawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000652:urine*; D003548:Cysteinyldopa / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary / Q000652:urine*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010808:Physical Examination; D011379:Prognosis; D011859:Radiography; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000652:urine*; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D003548:Cysteinyldopa