Clinical significance of iron metabolism and variation of serum Prealbumin in patients with tumor associated anemia

Objective To explore the occurrence of anemia, anaemia type, iron metabolism situation,variation of serum Prealbumin (PA), and the relationship among them in cancer patients. Methods Three hundred and seventy cancer patients, admitted from July 2007 to April 2010 to our hospital, were enrolled into the study. The clinical data of all subjects were analyzed retrospectively. Results The incidence of anemia in 370 patients was 55.67% (206/370). Among all 206 anemia cases,129 cases had mild anaemia and 77 cases had middle to severe anaemia. In the last group ( n = 77 ), we found significant decrease in serum iron level ( [ 8. 37 ± 6. 09 ] μmol/L) and increase in serum ferritin level ( [ 474. 57 ± 327. 58 ] μg/L); and the correlation between serum iron and the anemia degree( Ps ＜ 0. 05 ). However, we found no significant differences of serum ferritin level between the groups with different degree of anemia(P ＞0. 05). Among all 206 anemia cases ,187(90. 77% ) patients had a low level of serum PA, but no relationship between the degree of anemia and the drop of serum PA ( P ＞ 0. 05 ). Conclusion The anemia was very popular in cancer patients, which had correlation with iron metabolism situation but not PA. Key words: Tumor associated anemia;  Serum iron;  Serum ferritin;  Serum prealbumin