The utility of lactate dehydrogenase in the follow up of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Background: Serum lactate dehydrogenase is a non-specific marker for lymphoma whose prognostic significance is well established for both indolent and aggressive lymphomas at the time of diagnosis. The performance characteristics of this enzyme in predicting relapse in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma has not been well studied.

Methods: This study compared serum lactate dehydrogenase levels in 27 patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who relapsed after sustaining a complete response versus 87 patients who did not relapse.