On the other hand, patients with tumor size >1 cm had a higher serum MMP-9 level than those tumor size ≤1 cm (median 89.34 ng/ml, IQR 69.98‒116.99 vs. median 74.91 ng/ml, IQR 61.91‒109.03; P=0.013). This evidence concerns the gene MMP9 and neoplasm.