Measurements of CSF biochemical tumor markers in patients with meningeal carcinomatosis and brain tumors

Summary

CSF beta-glucuronidase, polyamines and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were analyzed in 16 patients with meningeal carcinomatosis from solid tumor in systemic organs, 27 with benign brain lesions, 18 with primary brain tumors, 14 with metastatic brain tumors and 5 with leptomeningeal dissemination of other malignant diseases. Beta-glucuronidase levels in all cases of meningeal carcinomatosis, meningeal gliomatosis and meningeal lymphoma were higher than 100 μg/dl/hr; on the other hand, levels in all cases of benign brain lesions were below 100 μg/dl/hr. Levels of beta-glucuronidase and polyamines were not high in the cases with positive cytology after tumor resection. Polyamine levels were below 0.05 nmol/ml in all cases after resection of the metastatic brain tumor.

Cystic fluid of malignant tumors showed high levels of beta-glucuronidase and polyamines. On the other hand, the levels of polyamines in the cystic fluid of benign tumor were low, although the levels of beta-glucuronidase were high. Some cases of meningeal carcinomatosis with high levels of serum CEA did not show high levels of CSF CEA. For metastatic brain tumors, the cases with intraparenchymal tumors, especially with dural attachment showed high levels of beta-glucuronidase and CEA preoperatively, but they returned to normal after surgery. In cases of meningeal carcinomatosis treated by intrathecal chemotherapy with methotrexate (MTX) and cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C), CSF beta-glucuronidase reflected the neurological status better than the cell count decreased rapidly following chemotherapy and beta-glucuronidase was considered as a useful CSF marker in cases of meningeal carcinomatosis to monitor the course of the disease. The same situation was observed in CSF CEA and CEA was also considered as a useful marker when CEA levels in CSF are higher than those in serum.