Liver function tests in metastatic uveal melanoma

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate trends in liver function tests before detection of liver metastases from uveal melanoma.

Design: Retrospective, comparative, observational case control study.

Setting: The Israel uveal melanoma center at the Hadassah University Hospital.

Patient population: A total of 307 uveal melanoma patients who were diagnosed with uveal melanoma and followed between the years 1988 and 1998. Of them, 30 metastatic patients who had regular follow-up by liver function tests (LFTs) and liver imaging were included in this study. Eighty nonmetastatic patients were randomly chosen as controls.

Observation procedure: The medical records of the metastatic and control groups were reviewed documenting LFTs and liver imaging results.

Main outcome measures: The mean level of each LFT, its sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratio at various time periods before the detection of metastases by liver imaging.

Results: At the time of diagnosis of liver metastases by imaging, 50% of patients had at least one abnormal LFT (compared with only 5% of the control group). While no change was noted in the mean serum levels of bilirubin, mean lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), alkaline-phosphatase, gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma GTP) aspartate-aminotrasferase, and alanine-aminotrasferase levels seem to rise, even within normal limits, during the 6 months before the detection of metastases. Based on likelihood ratios, alkaline-phosphatase and lactate dehydrogenase were the most predictive tests. Lactate dehydrogenase and aspartate-aminotransferase were already predictive at 80% of the upper normal limit, whereas alkaline-phosphatase and gamma-glutamyltransferase were most predictive at the upper normal limit.

Conclusions: Monitoring the changes in selected LFTs, even within normal limits, can help predict metastatic uveal melanoma.