The value of serum zinc, copper, ceruloplasmin levels in patients with gastrointestinal tract cancers.

What Was Tested

This clinical trial looks at the intervention named in the title.

Gastrointestinal cancers are frequent diseases of particular importance for surgeons with regard to their management and follow-up.

Neoplastic diseases activate antioxidant defense systems.

As a result, concentrations of redoxal enzymes and their co-factor elements appear to change.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 20 individuals taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

In this clinical trial, levels of Cu and Zn were defined with calorimetric methods and ceruloplasmin levels were measured with immunohistochemical methods in a control group of 20 healthy individuals and in 25 patients who underwent surgery for gastrointestinal system cancer.

The blood samples were taken preoperatively in gastrointestinal system cancer patients.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Biomarkers, Tumor, Calorimetry, Ceruloplasmin, Copper, Digestive System Surgical Procedures, Gastrointestinal Neoplasms and Immunohistochemistry.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is a clinical trial in 20 individuals.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Its findings take up roughly 4 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2005 (The Turkish journal of gastroenterology : the official journal of Turkish Society of Gastroenterology), a journal based in Turkey.

More context: all human trials.