Serum adenosine deaminase levels as an index of tumor growth in head and neck malignancy.

This study was conducted on 40 biopsy proved patients of head and neck cancers,85% of patients presented with squamous cell carcinoma in various grades of differentiation. When seruma denosine deaminase activity was compared between controls and cases, significant increase was found in the activities (control 51.54 ±12.09 IU/L and cases 106.87 ±29.75 IU/ L). The duration of illness didn't reflect any statistical significance with the adenosine deminase activity. It was 97.59 ±62.93 IU/L in case where duration of illness was 98 ±30.98 IU/L in patient with more than one year of disease. The lymph node showed stronger correlation with adenosine deaminase activity, its level was 83.41±1.41 IU/L in patients with N(3) The rise in serum adenosine deaminase activity was found to be directly related to the stage I disease. It was 57.80 ±4.60 IU/ L in patient with stage I disease while in patients with stage IV had 135.87 ±18.39 IU/L of activity. According to histological grading, highest level was found in patients having squamous cell carcinoma( 113.41 ±32 IU/L). The activity of adenosine deaminase decreases with radiotherapy and after surgery. This may help in assessing the decrease in tumour mass and improvement in patient’s clinical condition.