Marked elevation of CA19-9 in a patient with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: CA19-9 as a bad prognostic factor.
A 53-year-old Japanese female, who had been suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) for 3 years, was admitted with dyspnoea. The important laboratory finding on admission was a serum CA19-9 level of 649 U/mL. Despite steroid treatment for IPF, her respiratory condition gradually deteriorated with the increase of serum CA19-9 level up to 3020 U/mL and she died of respiratory failure. Immunohistochemistry showed the positive stain of CA19-9 in bronchoepithelial cells. We also reviewed the Index Medics and picked up the cases who had elevation of CA19-9 more than 1000 U/mL, and six patients were listed. Five of these six patients died within 6 months, therefore the marked elevation of CA19-9 seemed to be a bad prognostic factor in patients with pulmonary fibrosis.
First Department of Internal Medicine, Kagawa Medical University, Kagawa, Japan.
J
J
Fujita
Y
Y
Obayashi
I
I
Yamadori
Y
Y
Ohtsuki
H
H
Miyawaki
S
S
Hojo
Y
Y
Furukawa
J
J
Takahara
D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011658:Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism
D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen