title: Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in normal and pre-eclamptic pregnancies (values in maternal blood, amniotic fluid and umbilical cord blood).
abstract: Values of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were measured by radioimmunoassay in 100 pregnant women divided into 4 groups. In group 1 (49 normal pregnancies) and 2 (17 pre-eclamptic pregnancies), the estimation of CEA was done in maternal vein blood, umbilical cord blood and in amniotic fluid. In group 3 (20 normal pregnancies) CEA was measured separately in blood of the two umbilical vessels as well as in maternal vein blood. In group 4 (14 pregnancies with small-for-date infants) CEA was estimated in umbilical cord blood. The values in amniotic fluid of normal and pre-eclamptic pregnancies were more than 20 times higher than in the other two compartments. A significant correlation was found between the amniotic fluid and umbilical cord blood values (r = 0.500; P < 0.05), as well as between the values in umbilical artery and vein (r = 0.792; P < 0.001). Thus, it is thought that CEA is transferred from the amniotic cavity to the umbilical cord while a part of CEA perhaps is produced by the placenta. Umbilical cord blood values of small-for-date fetuses do not differ significantly from the normal. On the contrary, significantly lower values were obtained in umbilical cord blood and in amniotic fluid of pre-eclamptic women as compared to the normal, but this finding is not useful clinically because of the large standard deviation.
mesh_terms: D000653:Amniotic Fluid / Q000032:analysis*; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000032:analysis*; D005316:Fetal Distress / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008470:Meconium; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D014469:Umbilical Arteries; D014471:Umbilical Veins
chemical_list: D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen