Transient increase in serum thymidine kinase 1 within one week after surgery of patients with carcinoma

To investigate transient increases of thymidine kinase 1 in serum (STK1) after surgery of patients with carcinoma.

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.

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).

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.