Quantification of fibrin degradation products in glioma and meningioma patients.

BACKGROUND

DR-70 is an immunoassay for fibrin and FDP in plasma and it has been shown useful in detection of over 14 different cancers. This study investigated the validity of the DR-70 test in gliomas as well as meningiomas.

METHODS

77 brain tumor patients as well as 40 healthy individuals were prospectively included in the study and investigated using DR-70 kit. The glioma cohort of 33 patients consisted of 1, 11, 6 and 15 WHO grade 1, 2, 3 and 4 gliomas, respectively. The meningioma cohort of 44 patients contained 38, 5 and 1 WHO grade 1, 2 and 3 tumors.

RESULTS

Test results were significantly higher than control values for both gliomas and meningiomas. The most balanced sensitivity and specificity values were obtained at cut-off level of 0.5 μg/ml FDP for both gliomas and meningiomas. Above this cutoff level the relative-risk for having a glioma was 5.1 times higher compared to controls with sensitivity and specificity of 76% and 85%, respectively. The relative-risk for meningioma was 5.8 with a sensitivity and specificity of 87% and 85%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

FDP testing, which is a nonspecific cancer screening tool, is sensitive to the two most common primary brain malignancies, gliomas and meningiomas.