Analysis of serum lactic dehydrogenase levels and its isoenzymes in ovarian dysgerminoma.

The usefulness of serum lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) levels and its isoenzyme analysis as potential malignant ovarian tumor markers was investigated in 74 patients, including 5 cases of ovarian dysgerminomas. In this study 41.7% of patients with ovarian adenocarcinomas of the common epithelial types and 29.4% of cases with metastatic ovarian carcinoma had elevated preoperative serum LDH levels. In contrast all 5 cases of ovarian dysgerminomas had extremely high levels of serum LDH prior to therapy, whereas all 11 cases of benign solid ovarian tumors had normal LDH levels. The analysis of LDH isoenzymes revealed that ovarian dysgerminomas had high levels of the two fast fractions of LDH, whereas other malignant ovarian tumors had elevated levels of the two slow fractions. The present findings indicate that serum LDH levels and electrophoresis of its isoenzymes may be of value in patients with ovarian dysgerminomas.