title: Usefulness of chromogranin A as a marker for detection of relapses of carcinoid tumours.
abstract: It is well known that peptide-producing endocrine tumours cosecrete immunoreactive chromogranin A with their characteristic hormones. Into this study 187 patients with the diagnosis malignant carcinoids or other malignancies were entered. Using chromogranin A at a cut-off level of 30.3 U/ml it was possible to discriminate between patients in remission and patients suffering a relapse with a sensitivity of 91.7% and a specificity of 96.4%, which may be of important diagnostic value. In our study that lasted over one year we could clearly show that the measurement of chromogranin A is impressively superior to 5-hydroxyindoleacetic-acid for detecting a relapse of carcinoids.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Laboratory Diagnostics, Kaiser Franz Josef-Hospital Vienna, Austria. robert.pirker@KFJ.magwien.gv.at
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Pirker
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pont
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pöhnl
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schütz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Griesmacher
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Müller
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000652:urine*; D002276:Carcinoid Tumor / Q000473:pathology* / Q000652:urine; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D053379:Chromogranin A; D002864:Chromogranins / Q000652:urine*; D006801:Humans; D006897:Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid / Q000652:urine; D012008:Recurrence; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C506150:CHGA protein, human; D053379:Chromogranin A; D002864:Chromogranins; D006897:Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid