Serum lactate dehydrogenase contributes to prognostic assessment in patients with oligometastatic cancer and brain involvement

Abstract

<p><i>Background/Aim - </i>The aim of this study was to analyze the prognostic impact of serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in patients with oligometastatic brain metastases, arbitrarily defined as max. Four brain lesions and 5 metastatic lesions overall. <p><i>Patients and Methods - </i>This was a retrospective single institution analysis. Overall, 42 patients were identified from a prospectively maintained database. <p><i>Results - </i>Seventeen patients (40%) had extracranial metastases. Twelve patients (29%) had elevated LDH (≥255 U/l). Their median survival was significantly shorter than that of patients with normal LDH. Due to an interaction with performance status, this result was separately confirmed in patients with performance status ≥70. <p><i>Conclusion - </i>Oligometastatic disease is not always correctly diagnosed, because all radiological modalities are limited by certain thresholds for detection of small metastases. We hypothesize that LDH is associated with survival, because this biomarker may reflect the total burden of malignant disease. Future studies should examine whether or not ablative local treatment of oligometastases is warranted in patients with elevated LDH.