The prevalence of low selenium levels in newly diagnosed pediatric cancer patients.
Low selenium (Se) levels have been found in assoiciation with high incidences of various types of adult cancer. Much less is known about this issue among pediatric cancer patients. Forty-two pediatric patients with a variety of newly diagnosed malignancies were divided into two groups, 20 with localized disease (LD) and 22 with widespread disease (WSD). Analysis of serum collected before the commencement of treatment showed that half the patients had low Se serum levels, lower and more common in WSD than in LD. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of low albumin levels among patients with low Se levels, and most of the newly diagnosed children did not suffer from malnutrition. It was concluded that Se deficiency is common among newly diagnosed pediatric cancer patients, Se levels are lower in WSD than LD, and low Se levels are more prevalent in WSD patients than in LD patients.
Department of Pediatric Hemato-Oncology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. psergey@netvision.net.il
Sergey
S
Postovsky
Myriam Weyl Ben
MW
Arush
Eric
E
Diamond
Ronit
R
Elhasid
Gideon
G
Shoshani
Raanan
R
Shamir
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012643:Selenium / Q000097:blood* / Q000172:deficiency*; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000378:metabolism
D012709:Serum Albumin; D012643:Selenium