Serum CA19-9 in patients with solid pancreatic mass.
OBJECTIVE
This study evaluated the results and efficacy of serum CA 19-9 in determining the nature of a pancreatic solid mass in patients referred for investigation of possible malignancy.


BACKGROUND
A wide variety of tumor markers have been proposed for pancreatic cancer but currently the only one with any practical usefulness for diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of treatment is "CA 19-9".


METHODS
This present study is a single center 2 year descriptive, prospective and case series studying patients with a pancreatic solid mass.


RESULTS
Serum CA 19-9 was checked in 159 patients. The majority of patients were male (68%) and 81% had mass in the head of pancreas. Pathologic assessment revealed 131 adenocarcinomas (82%), 10 other malignancies (6%), 7 benign lesion (4%) and was non-diagnostic in 11 cases (7%). Mean level of this tumor marker in patients with adenocarcinoma, non-adenocarcinoma malignancy, benign and non-diagnostic pathology was 1094, 1004, 120, 259 U/ML respectively. With regarding 58 U/ML as a cutoff point; sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of this tumor marker for diagnosing the adenocarcinoma were 85%, 67%, 88%, 60% and 81% respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
There was no significant relationship between Serum CA 19-9 value and histopathology of solid pancreatic mass. This marker has limited sensitivity and specificity and cannot be used as a definite diagnostic test. So the use of CA 19-9 for the differentiation of pancreatic cancer should be applied on an individual case basis, depending on the clinical situation and imaging findings.
Deprtment of Gasteroenterology, Shahid Sadoghi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
Mahmud
M
Baghbanian
Deprtment of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.
Ali
A
Baghbanian
Deprtment of Gasteroenterology, Shahid Sadoghi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
Hasan
H
Salmanroghani
Deprtment of Gasteroenterology, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.
Bijan
B
Shabazkhani
CA 19-9; Pancreatic neoplasm