Heavy metal is suspected that has a causative role to developing cancers. In this context, lead with its effects may have a great concern. The aim of this study is to compare the lead levels in blood of healthy subjects and patients with gastrointestinal cancers.

In a case-control study between March 2015 to February 2016 blood levels of Lead (Pb) were assessed. Patients with gastrointestinal cancers were enrolled in this study. Patients were matched for sex and age with healthy subjects as control group. The plasma of each subject was used. A classic Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (FAAS) method was applied in this study.

One hundred patients were enrolled in our study with the mean age of 53.8±10.6 years old Of them 51 were male (51%). We defined that the level of Pb in both group were lower than toxic levels .The medians of Pb concentration in the case and healthy groups group were not different significantly by gender age and history of smoking .Although among patients its concentration was significantly different among the types and the location of cancer (P-value 0.003 and 0.003 respectively ). We didn’t observe any significant differences in concentration of Pb between patients and healthy subjects regarding to gender, age and history of smoking.

Pb concentration has significant difference between types and location of cancers therefore tissue studies should be concern .Although the rote of exposure may not explain all events related to Pb.