Background: The extent of renal angiomyolipoma (AML) volume reduction after renal transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) varies between patients, with no predictive measure available.
Purpose: To determine whether the serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) concentration shortly after TAE correlates with the extent of tumor shrinkage.
Material and methods: In a cohort of 36 patients undergoing prophylactic renal TAE for unruptured renal AML, we retrospectively acquired data from patient medical records, including serum LDH before and within 7 days after TAE and the tumor volume before and 12-36 months after TAE. The relationship between the serum level of LDH and reduction in tumor volume was evaluated using Spearman correlation analysis.
Results: The median LDH concentration was significantly higher after TAE than before (909.0 U/L vs. 186.5 U/L). This early post-TAE serum LDH level and LDH index (post-TAE LDH / pre-TAE LDH) correlated significantly and positively with the absolute decrease in tumor volume (both P < 0.0001). We observed no significant correlation between the relative tumor volume reduction and serum LDH level or LDH index.
Conclusion: Serum LDH elevation occurs shortly after TAE and correlates with the extent of absolute decrease in AML volume at 12-36 months after TAE. Further large-scale studies are warranted to confirm the predictive role of post-TAE serum LDH level and LDH index in tumor shrinkage in patients with unruptured renal AML.
Keywords: Angiomyolipoma; kidney; lactate dehydrogenase; transcatheter arterial embolization.