The Significance of Elevated Lactate Dehydrogenase and Creatine Kinase Activities as Prognostic Biomarkers for the Mortality in Patients with Terminal Cancers

Abstract

Background: Both creatine kinase (CK) and/or lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) mutually are elevated
significantly in many tumors. This study hypothesizes that LDH was evaluated as a prognostic factor for
survival time in patients with terminal cancer (PTC). Additionally, CK considered as a valuable in assessing
prognosis of advanced cancer patients. This study aimed to estimate the change in the CK/LDH levels
in patients with different types of cancer comparing with the controls, and to investigate their prognostic
significance for survival time termination in PTC.
Methodology: The study was performed at Cancer Central Research Clinic in Baghdad. We quantitated CK/
LDH using the colorimetric method in sixty PTC, and twenty age/sex-matched healthy adults.
Results: Serum values of CK/LDH were significantly increased in PTC compared to the controls (p<0.001).
There was a weak non-significant correlation between CKLDH in PTC and control. There was a nonsignificant
correlation of CK to LDH levels in different cancer types, except in patients with lymphatic
cancer.
Conclusion: In agreement with our hypothesis, serum levels of CK/LDH were significantly increased as the
patients approached death.