title: Advanced colon cancer: staging and prognosis by CEA test.
abstract: The carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) test was studied in 54 patients with advanced stages of colon cancer which was treated with high doses of folinic acid + fluorouracil. The CEA test correlates evaluated included: prognostic value, performance status, metastatic pattern, histologic grading, predictive value for response to chemotherapy, and value differences in cases with partial response to therapy. CEA levels less than 5 ng/ml corresponded to a greater survival time than did levels greater than 5 ng/ml. A correlation of CEA with performance status and with metastatic pattern was demonstrated. A progressive increase in average CEA values corresponded to increases in neoplastic mass. Although CEA levels were not found to be an index for predicting the response to chemotherapy, there was a significant different between pre- and posttreatment levels for partial response. The results suggest that CEA offers an additional criterion for evaluating the response of colon cancer to chemotherapy and it also has a role in the staging of advanced disease.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Clinica Medica, Università Cattolica del S. Cuore, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barone
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Astone
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cassano
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garufi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Astone
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grieco
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Noviello
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ricevuto
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Albanese
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gambassi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000032:analysis*; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen