Serum sialic acid levels in patients with oral and maxillofacial malignancy.

Serum sialic acid levels were measured using the thiobarbituric acid method in 80 healthy subjects and in 40 patients with benign and 61 with malignant tumors in the oral and maxillofacial region. It was shown that the cancer group had statistically higher sialic acid levels than control group and the group with benign disease (P less than .05), but no significant difference was noted between the normal control group and the patients with benign tumor (P greater than .05). Serum sialic acid levels were significantly higher in the patients with stages III and IV cancer than in those individuals with stage I and II cancer, but no differences were seen between stages I and II, and between stages III and IV cancer patients (P greater than .05). There was also no difference when considering the anatomic site of the malignant lesion. Furthermore, during the serial sialic acid determination in cancer patients before and following treatment, the sialic acid levels usually declined with remission of the disease and increased with recurrence, metastasis, or a poor prognosis. We conclude from this study that the sequential measurement of sialic acid level is particularly useful in monitoring patients with oral cancer, and sialic acid may prove to be a valuable tumor marker in oral and maxillofacial malignancy.