A study of serum copper, serum zinc and Cu/Zn ratio as diagnostic and prognostic index in cases of head, neck and face tumors.

Serum copper and zinc levels were measured in 20 normal healthy controls and 67 patients with tumours of head, neck and face region. Maximum cases in the present study were of oral malignancies (70.9% out of total malignant cases). Significant values of copper in both benign and malignant conditions, before and after treatment were observed (P less than 0.01). Serum zinc was also significantly depressed (before treatment) in all cancer cases (P less than 0.01) but was not significant in benign conditions (P greater than 0.05) However, it was significant in all cases (P less than 0.01) after treatment. Further analysis of the data showed that Cu/Zn ratios were increased in all the cases (before treatment) and was either coming near to normal limits or were maintained at post therapy levels. In our study 5 patients showed recurrence after complete treatment. The alterations in copper, zinc and Cu/Zn ratio were related to the stage of the disease. Regular monitoring of Cu/Zn ratio was done at three weeks interval for 6 months suggesting the Cu/Zn ratio is of diagnostic and prognostic value. The Cu/Zn ratio was found to be a reliable parameter rather than individual levels of and or Cu and Zn.