Relación entre los niveles plasmáticos de selenio y las diferentes enfermedades prostáticas

several studies have demonstrated an inverse relation between serum selenium levels (se) and advanced prostate cancer (pca). objective: to determine and compare selenium plasma levels in patients with different prostatic pathologies. material and methods: it is a transversal, descriptive and comparative study. a sample of 64 men between 50 and 80 years old were selected for the study between 2007 and 2009. all volunteers underwent a digital rectal examination, prostate specific antigen level, ultrasound and transrectal prostate biopsy (12-14 chips). prostate cancer was subclassified according to gleason score. selenium was determined indirectly by serum glutathione peroxidase (kit ransel, randox srl, crumlin, uk). statistical analysis was performed using anova i (p<0.05). results: glutathione peroxidase level was 33.75±2.36mg/ml in control patients. a decrease of 31.6% was observed in patients with bph (23.08±1.57mg/ml) and of (63.6%) in subjects with prostate cancer (12.28±1.03mg/ml) (p<0,0001). there was no correlation with the gleason score. conclusion: serum seleniun is lower in patients with prostatic pathologies being even more important in cancer patients regardless the gleason score.