Serum protein and prolactin as diagnostic markers.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the use of serum prolactin and total protein as a tumor marker in diagnosing uterine fibroid(s). METHODS A case control study was carried out from March 2004 to October 2005 at Al-Kharch Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. Thirty-two patients with uterine fibroid(s) and 30 healthy normal women were involved in the study. Blood was collected from uterine fibroid patients before and after surgery. The serum total protein was measured by the Biuret method, and prolactin by the mini VIDAS ELFA technique (enzyme linked fluorescent assay). RESULTS The serum of patients with uterine fibroids before surgery showed an elevated prolactin level (169.64 +/- 133.11 ng/ml), compared with their prolactin after surgery (19.69+/-9.54 ng/ml), and with the control group (18.93 +/- 5.16 ng/ml). This also increased with increasing fibroid number independently of the site, or the size of the fibroid. Serum total protein was relatively low in the patient group before surgery (5.56+/-9.66 g/dl), and returned to a healthy reference level after they underwent surgery (6.83 +/- 0.9 g/dl), similar to the control group level (7.18+/-0.75 g/dl). CONCLUSION Serum prolactin and serum total protein can be used as an adjuvant biochemical marker to confirm the diagnosis of uterine fibroids.