Study of Serum Vitamin-C levels in Carcinoma Stomach

Introduction:Stomach cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death worldwide, hence known as CAPTAIN OF MENS DEATH.Vitamin -c is an antioxidant and inhibitor of carcinogen N-nitroso compound production in the stomach.Numerous case control studies show that higher dietary vitamin -c consumption is associated with decreased risk of gastric cancer but prospective studies are limited,particularly for blood measures of Vitamin-c. Materials and Methods:Study group includes 100 cases,devided in to five groups.38 confirmed cases of gastric cancers,20 benign peptic ulcer diseases,15 GI malignancies other than stomach,12 non GI malignancies and 15 healthy volunteers.Histological study was done from endoscopic specimen and surgically resected specimen.Serum vitamin -c level was estimated in all the cases. Results:Higher age group(56.89+13.8) and males(92.1%) were the vulnerable group for cancer stomach.Plasma levels of Vit-C is significantly lower in cancer stomach cases in comparision to healthy volunteers which is statistically significant(p value<0.05).Plasma vit-c level of other GI malignancies and non GI malignancies are also less than healthy volunteers.Equal level of Vit C both in cancer stomach and APD patients which is lower than that of control group.Consumption of vitamin C rich food is protective against cancer stomach by its anticarcinogenic properties.The difference between vit-c rich food consumption between cancer stomach patient and healthy volunteers is statistically significant(p value<0.05). Conclusion:-Plasma level of vit-c is significantly lower in cancer stomach in comparision to healthy volunteers.So vit-c supplimentation could be beneficial in such cases if further study could confirm relationship of vit-c with gastric cancer as to wheather it is a cause or effect of the disease.Further studies are also necessary to determine the mechanism of Vitamin C action and any potential interactions with H Pylori infection and smoking.