[Biochemical activity in peritoneal effusion of ovarian malignancy]

This study was provided biochemical findings on ascitic fluid following the treatment of patients with ovarian tumors. The results were as follows: LDH and LDH isozyme. The ascitic fluid from patients with germ cell tumors showed an LDH1 value of 38.8% with an H/M ratio of 2.82, which were significantly higher than those found in the benign tumor group (LDH1, 15.2%: H/M ratio, 1.05). In cases of adenocarcinomas, the LDH5 value was 27.2%, compared to 15.7% in cases of benign tumors. Of 28 patients with adenocarcinoma, 15 patients (53.6%) were positive for this elevation. The decline in total LDH activity and elevation of H/M ratio were observed as a general tendency in patients satisfactorily responding to treatment. ALP and ALP isozyme. The malignant tumor group displayed higher values for both total ALP activity and HSAP in ascitic fluid, as compared with the benign tumor group. In the malignant tumor group, alpha 2 and alpha 2-beta regions were prominent in the isozyme pattern and the isozymes of the same regions remained even after inactivation by heat. The total activity decreased significantly in the responders to treatment. TP, alpha 1-AT, alpha 1-AG, alpha 2-M and IgG. The ascitic fluid levels of alpha 1-AT, alpha 2-M and IgG did not significantly differ among the group of patients with germ cell tumors, the group of patients with ovarian gonadal stroma and the group of patients with benign tumors. In the adenocarcinoma group the alpha 1-AT and alpha 2-M levels were higher than those in the benign tumor group. The ascitic fluid alpha 1-AG level and alpha 1-AG/TP ratio were elevated in tumors of germ cell origin and in adenocarcinomas; they tended to correlate with the degree of malignancy of the tumor. The results of the present study suggest that simultaneous measurement of the ascitic fluid levels of LDH isozymes, ALP isozymes, alpha 1-AG, alpha 1-AT, alpha 2-M and IgG may play a potential adjunctive role in providing information for diagnostic differentiation between benign and malignancy, estimation of the histologic type and extent of neoplastic growth, evaluation of the therapeutic response and prediction of the clinical progress.