title: The clinical value of CEA and CA 15-3 in breast cancer management.
abstract: The value of tumour-associated antigens CEA and CA 15-3 was studied in patients with breast cancer over a 4-year period. A total of 252 patients with primary or recurrent disease had available and corresponding CEA and CA 15-3 values at diagnosis and during follow-up and were studied in detail. Preoperative and three-monthly serial postoperative levels were measured in each patient. Ten of 11 patients presenting with primary and concurrent metastatic disease had elevated CA 15-3 levels (> 25 I.U./ml) as compared to 6 with CEA (> 5 ng/ml). Fourty-seven patients developed locoregional recurrence of which 15 had concurrent metastatic disease. CA 15-3 was elevated in 14 cases while CEA in 11. Of 32 patients with locoregional recurrence alone, 18 later developed metastatic disease at a mean follow-up time of 17.5 months. There was a significant correlation between CA 15-3 value at locoregional recurrence and time to subsequent metastasis (r = 0.-0.57, P = 0.0133). CEA was elevated in 64%, CA 15-3 in 87% and either marker in 94% of 87 patients diagnosed with metastatic disease. Of 53 patients with serial markers and metastatic disease, 72% (38/53) had rising CA 15-3 levels prior to diagnosis with a mean lead time of 9.9 months. Use of CEA in conjunction improved lead time detection to 83%. This study demonstrates that CA 15-3 is superior to CEA at detecting metastatic disease at initial presentation and during follow-up. Use of CEA in conjunction with CA 15-3 improves the detection of systemic disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, St. Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Coveney
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Geraghty
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sherry
authors.forename: E W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: McDermott
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Fennelly
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: O'Higgins
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Duffy
mesh_terms: D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000556:secondary; D018396:Mucin-1 / Q000097:blood*; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D018396:Mucin-1