Thymidine kinase in brain-tumor cysts.

A recently developed method for deoxythymidine kinase (TK) determination was applied to brain-tumor cyst fluid and fluid from a non-neoplastic intracerebral cyst. The fluid from all tumors tested positive for TK whereas the non-neoplastic cyst lacked TK. Cyst fluid was also analyzed for TK before and after intracystic instillation of BCNU. It is suggested that TK activity in the fluid in cystic brain lesions could prove useful in deciding whether an intracerebral lesion is neoplastic. Also, TK activity can be used to evaluate the effect of topical therapy.