Unspecific metabolic blood parameters as used in clinical routine may differentiate malignant from benign cerebral tumors.

The investigation of rather insensitive metabolic parameters (protein, fibrinogen, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), blood glucose) reveals significant differences between tumor-bearing and tumor-free patients as well as benign and malignant neoplasms. Whereas metastases and glioblastomas (GBM) show significantly elevated BUN levels (21.9 +/- 1.7; 8 +/- 2.2 mg/dl) compared to benign tumors (meningioma WHO I, astrocytoma I, II) (16 +/- 0.9 mg/dl) and tumor-free matched controls (e.g. 13.9 +/- 1.4 mg/dl) only metastases depict higher glucose (141.7 +/- 11mg/dl) counts. Fibrinogen, significantly elevated in malignancy (395 +/- 25.2; 397.2 +/- 25.9 mg/dl) is without difference between meningioma, astrocytoma (253.2 +/- 16.6; 271.5 +/- 16.5 mg/dl) and controls (e.g. 270.1 +/- 10.8 mg/dl). Correlating BUN with total protein reveals a metabolic mismatch to nearly all tumor patients, regardless of dignity, as compared to tumor-free patients. Neuroendocrinoimmunological changes are the most likely reason for these overt as well as occult findings, making investigation of more sensitive metabolic parameters a rewarding task.