Plasma carcinoembryonic antigen in an Australian hospital population.
Plasma carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels have been determined by the zirconyl phosphate gel (Z-gel) method, using materials provided by Hoffman-LaRoche Inc., on 512 samples from 425 hospital patients, and on single samples from 124 normal controls (98 blood donors and 26 healthy staff members). Of the controls, 98% had CEA levels less than 5 ng/ml. Forty-six hospital patients had CEA levels above 20 ng/ml; 45 (98%) had known present or past cancer. Nineteen patients had levels between 10 and 20 ng/ml; 11 (58%) had present or past cancer. Sixty-seven patients had levels between 5 and 10 ng/ml, and most of these had non-malignant diseases; only 34% had present or past cancer. Cigarette smoking was associated with elevated CEA levels among patients with non-neoplastic diseases, notably those with cirrhosis of the liver and chronic renal disease. There was a gradation of increasing specificity for cancer with increasing levels of CEA from 5 to over 20 ng/ml; but, on the other hand, higher levels were associated with more disseminated cancer, which would be less amenable to cure.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000276:immunology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D012907:Smoking
D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen