title: Prognostic significance of perioperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen in non-small cell lung cancer: analysis of 1,000 consecutive resections for clinical stage I disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prognostic implication of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) has yet to be comprehensively analyzed since the reports available so far have comprised small patient populations. We evaluated perioperative CEA values with regard to surgical results in a large number of patients to clarify its merit.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured serum CEA levels before and after surgery in 1,000 consecutive patients with clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer who underwent resection of tumor. High CEA value was greater than 5.0 ng/mL.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred and sixty-eight patients (36.8%) had high preoperative CEA levels. The CEA levels after surgery were normalized in 242 patients (24.2%) and persistently elevated in 126 patients (12.6%). High CEA levels were seen more frequently in patients with older age, male gender, larger size of tumor, incomplete resection, and advanced pathologic stage. Patients with a high preoperative CEA level had a poor survival. Among these patients, even worse survival was seen for those with a high postoperative CEA level. These prognostic trends were still observed for patients with pathologic stage I disease. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that both preoperative and postoperative CEA levels were independent prognostic determinants (p = 0.0243 and p < 0.0001, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Perioperative measurement of serum CEA concentrations yields information valuable for detecting patients at high risk of poor survival. Normalization of CEA levels after surgery was a significant favorable prognostic sign in patients with an elevated CEA level before surgery. Even after apparently successful surgical therapy, patients with a high CEA level should be carefully followed up, and might represent a suitable target for neoadjuvant clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Hyogo Medical Center for Adults, Akashi City, Hyogo, Japan. morihito1217jp@aol.cm
authors.forename: Morihito
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Wataru
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nishio
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uchino
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yuki
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tsubota
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000032:analysis*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011379:Prognosis; D012306:Risk; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins