ROLE OF DES-GAMMA-CARBOXY PROTHROMBIN IN HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA

Abstract

Li ver ca ncer is the most co mmon neo plasm a nd m ost common cause of ca ncer death in the world. The f irst serological assay for detection a nd cli nical follow u p of patien ts wi t h HCC was Al pha- ictoprotein (AFP). Des gamma car boxy prothro mbin (DCP) is a n a bno rmal pro t h rom bin, ind uced by vi tam i n K abnor ma li t y was found i n pat i ents wit h HCC a nd i n l ow l evel s in patients wi th ch ron ic l iver disease th is work a i ms to eva lua te the r u le o f DCP i n d i agnosis of I-I CC. 43 pat i ents wi th HCC a nd 20 patien ts with ch ronic li ver disease i nvol ved i n t he study arc subjected to h istory tak ing, cl i n ical exa mination, a bdo minal sonography, li ver biopsy, A FP determ ination in ser um a nd DCP determ i na ti on in the plasma. The A FP and DCP were determ ined using enzyme l in ked i mm u noassay ki ts. The mea n val ue of both Af P and DCP in . I-I CC pat ients showed sta tistically si gni fica n t i nc rease (P.va l ue=O.OO I) compa red to the control a nd beni gn l iver d isease gro u ps. ocr showed higher spccilicity but lower sensit iv ity compared wit h A FP. Thus combi na tion of Af P a nd DCJ> cou ld raise the sensi t i vity of DCP and t he spccficit y o f AFP. DCP showed significa nt correlation (P.valuc=0.033) with the degree of differen tiati on of HCC, and so it cou ld be a useful prognostic marker for !·ICC. No correla ti on could be fo und between the levels of