Aim: To establish Plasmodium Falciparum LDH isoenzyme as bio-chemical marker in falciparum malaria patients for diagnosis, severity and treatment monitoring of the disease. Methods: Study group comprised 170 diagnosed cases of falciparum malaria (90 uncomplicated,80 complicated) as per WHO 2000 guidelines. Age & sex matched afebrile 80 healthy individuals were randomly selected from the outpatient department comprised the control group. Diagnosis of falciparum malaria was done by Giemsa stained peripheral blood smear and LDH based rapid diagnostic test. Routine investigation of blood haemoglobin (Acid Haematin method), DC, TLC, Fasting plasma glucose (GOD-POD method),Serum sodium, potassium, Lipid profile, blood Urea, serum Creatinine, serum Bilirubin, AST, ALT, ALP were carried out in the study and control group immediately after collection of blood. Results: The serum LDH mean value was found to be 1778.0 ± 221.01U/L in malaria (both complicated and uncomplicated )cases. The value was significantly higher than control LDH activity of 399 ± 71.2U/L (p<0.0001). LDH was significantly negatively correlated with blood hemoglobin and a significant positive correlation was observed with serum bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and the Creatinine levels in the study group. Conclusion: LDH appears to hold great promise as an effective prognostic indicator and biomarker of a haemolytic mechanism of vascular pathobiology in patients with malaria as a readily available clinical laboratory test.
