Extensive bowel resection in infancy is another cause of increasing plasma alphafetoprotein concentration

Abstract

Plasma alphafetoprotein (AFP) concentrations are high at birth and decline progressively to reach adult levels between eight and 24 months of age. AFP is an important tumour marker for hepatoblastoma but may also increase following hepatic resection. The liver and intestine have similar embryonic origins from endoderm, so we postulated that plasma AFP may also rise after extensive bowel resection. AFP was measured postoperatively in plasma in four infants who had undergone resections of large amounts of intestine. AFP was measured twice in two babies and multiple times in the other two. In three of the four infants, the AFP concentrations were markedly above the expected levels for age, and in all four babies, AFP concentrations rose when they may have been expected to fall. Rising plasma AFP concentrations post extensive bowel resection in infants is a new finding which is possibly due to intestinal regeneration.