Cerebrospinal fluid tumour markers in patients treated for meningeal malignancy

Abstract

The results of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biochemical markers were compared with conventional CSF cytology in patients treated for leptomeningeal metastases from extra cranial malignancies. For lumbar CSF, before treatment, no statistically significant difference of the probabilities of being positive was found between CSF cytology and a classification by linear discriminant analysis, based on patient's age, of β-glucuronidase and β2-microglobulin. During treatment, classification by linear discriminant analysis was found more often positive than cytology. Possible mechanisms for this difference are discussed. For ventricular CSF a correlation was found between CSF cytology and β-glucuronidase for solid tumours, and between CSF cytology and β2-microglobulin for haematological malignancies. Reference values for ventricular protein, CEA β-glucuronidase and β2-microglobulin were obtained for cytological negative samples.