Transient increase in serum thymidine kinase 1 within one week after surgery of patients with carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate transient increases of thymidine kinase 1 in serum (STK1) after surgery of patients with carcinoma.


METHODS
STK1 was determined before and within one week after surgery of carcinoma patients (non-small cell lung (NSCLC), n=25, oesophagueal, n=12, cardial, n=4,) by a chemiluminescent dot blot assay using anti-TK1 IgY antibody.


RESULTS
The mean age of the patients with high STK1 values after surgery was 63.2+/-8.7 years, while that for patients with stable/low STK1 values was 54.8+/-11.8 years; this was significantly different at P<0.05. Sixty-one percent of the patients with high STK1 values after surgery exhibited declining red blood cell (35%) or increasing white blood cell/neutrophil cell (29%) counts. The high STK1 values after surgery correlated with a prolonged operation execution time in anaemic patients (3.43+/-0.90 h), as compared non-anaemic patients (2.72+/-0.79 h). The high STK1 values also correlated with extensive surgery programs (oseophageal/ cardial carcinoma, 3.31+/-0.70 h, versus NSCLC, 2.44+/-0.63 h).


CONCLUSIONS
The transiently elevated STK1 values post-operation might be due to surgery-induced complications, such as anaemia and infection/inflammation, but also to operation execution times and age of patients. We suggest that STK1 should not be used within one week post-operation, but before surgery and after one month to avoid non-tumor-related increases in STK1, and thus misleading results.
Department of Thoracic Surgery Oncology, Chinase Acadermy of Medical Science, Beijing, PR China.
Zhishan
Z
Li
Yinghong
Y
Wang
Jie
J
Ma
Jie
J
He
Ji
J
Zhou
Ellen
E
He
Sven
S
Skog
D000367:Age Factors; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000097:blood / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000601:surgery; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000097:blood / Q000201:enzymology / Q000601:surgery; D004906:Erythrocyte Count; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000201:enzymology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000201:enzymology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000601:surgery*; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000201:enzymology / Q000601:surgery; D013937:Thymidine Kinase / Q000097:blood*
D013937:Thymidine Kinase; C092717:thymidine kinase 1