Lipid Peroxidation and Antioxidant Vitamin Status in Oral Cavity and Oropharyngeal Cancer Patients

Background: This study was conducted to determine levels of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant vitaminstatus in patients with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer.
Methods: The study group consisted of a totalnumber of 80 subjects between the age 40-68 years, 40 with clinically and histopathologically proved cases oforal cavity and oropharyngeal cancer and 40 normal healthy, age and sex matched volunteers as controls. Levelsof lipid peroxidation products as malondialdehyde (MDA) and antioxidant vitamins as vitamin A and vitaminC were estimated and compared between the two groups.
Results: There was a statistical significant differencein the mean MDA, plasma vitamin A and vitamin C in the oral and oropharyngeal cancer patients comparedwith the healthy controls (p<0.0001).
Conclusions: Lipid peroxidation (MDA) is higher and plasma antioxidantvitamins like vitamin A and vitamin C were lower in oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer patients than healthycontrols.