[Clinical evaluation of serum ferritin levels in urologic cancer (II)].

By means of the RIA-Gnost Ferritin and Spac Ferritin kits, the serum ferritin levels of patients with some urological malignant diseases were quantitated; and, the clinical significance of these values as a tumor marker was discussed. The normal (reference) level in serum obtained by the RIA-Gnost kit was 142.5 +/- 67.5 ng/ml (n = 58) for healthy males and 49.6 +/- 28.8 ng/ml (n = 76) for healthy females. The assay values for 22 cases of bladder cancer by both kits were somewhat lower than the normal range, and the positive rates presented were around 30%, being in rough agreement with each other. The positive rate for 22 patients with prostatic cancer was 45.5% by either method. The assay values obtained by the RIA-Gnost kit was higher and differed significantly (p less than 0.1%) from those obtained on healthy males. Furthermore, the same tendency was found in 6 cases of renal cancer. The assay values of RIA-Gnost were significantly higher (p less than 0.1%) than normal; and, the positive rate was 100% for RIA-Gnost and 67% for Spac . In conclusion, serum ferritin determination especially that by the RIA-Gnost kit proved to be a useful and significant tumor marker for the detection of renal cancer.