Serum beta 2-microglobulin as a tumour marker in space occupying lesions of central nervous system.

We prospectively evaluated serum concentrations of beta 2-microglobulin in twenty healthy controls and fifty cases of CT scan proven and operated intracranial tumours. The later group comprised of twenty subjects of benign and thirty cases of malignant tumours respectively. Mean serum beta 2-microglobulin in healthy subjects was 1.80 +/- 0.5 mg/ litre, none had value of more than 3.0 mg/ltr. On the contrary 75% of benign and 63.3% of malignant tumour cases had statistically significant rise in the beta 2-microglobulin. Elevated serum level of beta 2-microglobulin may prove to be a reliable tumour marker.