Serum sialic acids in the diagnosis of digestive tract tumor

Abstract

Objective To investigate serum levels of sialic acids (SA) vs carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) for the diagnosis of digestive tract cancer. Methods Sixty healthy adults, 100 patients with malignant digestive tract tumor and those undergoing radical digestive tract tumor surgery were enrolled in this case-control study. Serum SA level was tested. Serum CEA level was measured by electrochemical luminescence. Sensitivity and specificity of SA vs CEA were calculated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (ROC-AUC) were used to evaluate the diagnostic value of SA. Results Serum level of SA of patients with digestive malignant tumors was much higher than the normal controls (P 0.05). There was significant difference in SA level between the patients who received surgical therapy or not. The sensitivity and specificity of SA in diagnosing digestive tract cancer was 55.00% and 93.3%, respectively. The false positive rate was 6.7% in normal subjects. Conclusion Serum SA or CEA testing may be equally useful in the screening, diagnosis, outcome assessment and follow-up study of digestive tract cancer. Key words: N-acetylneuraminic acid; Laboratory techniques and procedures; Digestive system; Neoplasms