Relationship between mesenteric and peripheral blood levels of CA 19-9 in patients with colorectal cancer.
BACKGROUND
CA19-9 is one of the most important tumor markers used in patients with colorectal cancer, mainly in radical surgery follow-up.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the preoperative CA19-9 level obtained from a peripheral vein (PV) and compare it to the level obtained from the mesenteric vein (MV).


METHODS
Blood was collected from a PV of the arm and from the MV of 59 patients with colorectal cancer before primary surgery. Of these 59 patients fourteen had stage I disease, 10 stage II, 22 stage III, and 13 stage IV. CA19-9 was determined in serum by immunoenzymatic assay (Abbott Diagnostica).


RESULTS
Fifteen patients (24%) had elevated serum levels of CA19-9 in the MV and 13 (22%) in the PV. None of the stage I or II patients had elevated serum levels of CA19-9. There were no differences between marker levels in blood collected from the MV or PV, independent of clinical stage. The CA19-9 values obtained from the MV differed significantly in the different stages of the disease according to the Kruskal-Wallis analysis (p=0.026); this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.08) in serum from the PV. There was no correlation between venous infiltration by the tumor and positivity of CA19-9 serum levels collected from the mesenteric vein. We observed a close correlation between the serum levels of CA19-9 collected from the PV and from the MV (r=0.9).


CONCLUSIONS
The current study demonstrates a close correlation between the serum levels of CA19-9 collected from a peripheral vein and from the mesenteric vein. Our results confirmed the poor sensitivity of serum CA19-9 at diagnosis, independent of the collection site.
Forones
N M
NM
Oncology Group, Clinical and Surgical Gastroenterology Division, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, Brasil. nora@gastro.epm.br
Tanaka
M
M
Matos
D
D
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008642:Mesenteric Veins; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D018395:CA-19-9 Antigen