title: Predictive value of preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen levels for the prognosis of patients with well-differentiated gastric cancer. A multivariate analysis.
abstract: Serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels were determined preoperatively in 221 patients with well-differentiated gastric cancer. The mean preoperative serum CEA level was 15.9 +/- 88.5 ng/ml (1.0-1,133.0 ng/ml) for all patients, and the incidence of an elevated CEA (> 5 ng/ml) was 11.8% (26/221). The CEA-positive patients had larger tumors, a more prominent serosal invasion, more frequent lymphatic and vascular involvement, less expansive tumor growth and higher rates of lymph node and hepatic metastases than did the CEA-negative patients. Thus, the CEA-positive patients had a more advanced stage of disease, and 61.5% underwent noncurative resection (vs. 11.3% in CEA-negative patients). The survival rate of the CEA-positive patients was lower than that of the CEA-negative ones (p < 0.01). As the multivariate analysis revealed the preoperative CEA level to be an independent prognostic factor for survival, an assay for this antigen prior to surgery is to be recommended.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery II, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Maehara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kusumoto
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kakeji
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akazawa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugimachi
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D000368:Aged; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011379:Prognosis; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen