Serum levels of chemical elements and carious lesions in children after antitumor therapy

Aim. To study serum concentrations of trace and macro elements and their correlations in children and adolescents after antitumor therapy, depending on the presence or absence of caries.

Materials and methods. The study included 98 patients aged 4 to 17 years who were in remission after an antitumor therapy performed for acute leukemia or lymphomas. Patients with carious tooth lesions were included in group 1 (n = 34) and without caries – in group 2 (n = 64). We used inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to calculate the content of essential, conditionally essential and toxic elements in blood serum. The median and interquartile range were calculated, the Mann-Whitney U-test was applied to compare groups, and the Kendall rank correlation coefficient (τ) was calculated for tandem elements.

Results. In both groups, the concentrations of the studied elements were within the reference ranges. In group 1, compared with group 2, higher concentrations of potassium, arsenic, iodine and boron and lower concentrations of lithium and tungsten (p < 0.05) were noted. There were no differences in the concentration of phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, manganese, gold, silver, platinum, aluminum, beryllium, bismuth, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, mercury, lithium, molybdenum, nickel, rubidium, antimony, tin, vanadium, zinc, zirconium and thallium between the groups. Significant correlation coefficients in both groups were obtained for the iron/manganese tandem (τ = 0.24, p < 0.05). Different values of τ were got for nickel/ manganese, cobalt/iron, manganese/phosphorus, beryllium/lithium tandems: τ = 0.342 and τ = 0.14; τ = 0.363 and τ = 0.033; τ = –0.111 and τ = –0.326; τ = –0.365 and τ = 0.42, respectively, for groups 1 and 2.

Conclusion. In patients in remission after antitumor therapy, an association of caries with an increase (within reference values) in the concentration of essential (potassium, iodine) and conditionally essential elements (arsenic, boron), a decrease in the concentration of lithium and tungsten; as well as a change in the ratio of nickel/manganese, cobalt/iron, manganese/ phosphorus and change the direction of the correlation in the beryllium/lithium tandem was revealed.

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