SIGNIFICANCE OF SERUM ALPHA-FETOPROTEIN LEVELS IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS OF PAEDIATRIC LIVER TUMOURS- A STUDY AT PAEDIATRIC REFERRAL CENTRE
Journal Title: Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences - Year 2018, Vol 7, Issue 41
Abstract
BACKGROUND There is a need for accurate diagnosis and preoperative evaluation of paediatric liver tumours, because treatment modalities and management protocols vary for benign and malignant tumours. There is a widespread notion that elevated AFP levels are suggestive of malignant liver tumours. However, in paediatric age group, serum AFP levels are normally higher than adults upto eight months of age. Preoperative evaluation involves radiology and serum AFP levels. So this study aims to study the AFP levels in both malignant and benign liver tumours and also understand if higher levels are seen in malignant liver tumours over their benign counterpart. MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective descriptive study of all the cases of paediatric liver tumours received at the Department of Pathology, Niloufer Hospital was done. Detailed clinical history, radiological investigations and serum AFP levels were recorded in all the cases. RESULTS The hypothesis that benign paediatric liver tumours show normal-to-mildly elevated AFP levels did not correlate with our results. There was a very wide variation in elevation of AFP levels in all the cases. Both benign and malignant liver tumours showed similar percentage of elevation in AFP levels. CONCLUSION AFP levels cannot be used as maker to predict malignancy in preoperative evaluation in paediatric age group due to significant elevation of AFP in both benign and malignant tumours.
Authors and Affiliations
O. H. Radhika Krishna, K. Geetha, Sumaiah Fatima, Srinivas Reddy P, Ramesh Reddy Kota
Keywords
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- EP ID EP548388
- DOI 10.14260/jemds/2018/994
- Views 94
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