The sensitivity of hyaluronan analysis of pleural fluid from patients with malignant mesothelioma and a comparison of different methods

✍ Scribed by Gunnar Martensson; Anders Thylen; Ulla Lindqvist; Anders Hjerpe

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 447 KB
• Volume: 73
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19940301)73:5<1406::aid-cncr2820730515>3.0.co;2-i

✦ Synopsis

Background:

Hyaluronan may be used as a marker for malignant mesothelioma, thus indicating its mesodermal origin.

Methods:

The sensitivity as a diagnostic test of three different methods for hyaluronan analyses of pleural fluid was examined in patients with biopsy-verified malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Results:

A quantitative high-performance liquid-chromatography (hplc) method was performed on fluids from 43 patients. using a cutoff level of 100 mg/l, higher levels were noted in 30 (70%) patients, with a median value of 220 mg/l (mean, 560 mg/l; range, 20-6600 mg/l). an identical median value (220 mg/l) was obtained with a radioassay method when simultaneously performed on paired samples from 21 patients (correlation coefficient, 0.91). a qualitative precipitation test using 0.5% cetylpyridinium chloride combined with a quantitative viscosimetric method was significantly less sensitive (p < 0.01).

Conclusion:

Hyaluronan analyses is beneficial in distinguishing malignant mesothelioma if methods such as the evaluated hplc or radioassay with a sensitivity of 70% toward mesothelioma are used and other known causes of elevated content are considered.