Cutoff Value Of Carcinoembryonic Antigen Research Articles

Role of cancer ratio (serum LDH/pleural ADA) and carcinoembryonic antigen in diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion

Abstract Background Pleural effusion may be malignant or nonmalignant, Cytology has been used in malignant pleural effusion (MPE) diagnosis due to its high specificity. Its sensitivity is about 0.6. Cancer ratio (CR) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) may be used in MPE diagnosis. Aim Evaluate the role of CR and CEA as diagnostic markers of MPE and their role in differentiating different types of MPE. Patients and methods This cross-sectional study included 70 patients with pleural effusion admitted to Chest Department, Kasr Alainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University. Thirty-five patients had benign pleural effusions and 35 patients had MPE. Pleural fluid sample obtained from each patient for ADA, CEA, and serum LDH. CR and pleural fluid CEA were compared between patients with MPE and those with benign effusion. Results CR was statistically significantly higher in the malignant group (mean 23.66 ± 7.75) compared with benign group (mean 14.47 ± 11.42) with P value less than 0.001. CR cut-off value was 19.79, the sensitivity and specificity were 74.3 and 82.9%, respectively. Pleural fluid CEA had higher levels in malignant group (mean 104.78 ± 262.7) compared with benign group (mean 2.08 ± 2.49) with P value less than 0.001. The cut-off value of CEA was 3.4 U/l with sensitivity 74.3% and specificity 94.3%. Pleural fluid CEA was significantly higher in metastatic adenocarcinoma (mean 154.58 ± 314.53) compared with other types of malignancy (mean 9.34 ± 17.98) with P value less than 0.001. Conclusion CR and CEA could be used together as simple screening tests in cytology negative MPE with high specificity and sensitivity. CEA was significantly higher in metastatic adenocarcinoma compared with other types of malignancy and could be used to differentiate different types of MPE.

Integration of pretreatment tumor markers in a nomogram model for prognostic prediction of FIGO stage I endometrial cancer: A multi-institutional cohort study.

Traditionally, the prognosis of patients with FIGO stage I endometrial cancer is determined by clinicopathological risk factors. In this study, we assessed the potential contribution of pretreatment carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen-125 (CA-125) levels to estimating the prognosis of these patients and aimed to develop and validate a prognostic nomogram. This retrospective study included patients with FIGO stage I endometrial cancer who underwent treatment between January 2009 and December 2021 in the four institutes of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. To identify optimal cutoff values of CEA and CA-125 for predicting survival, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated, the Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate survival, and a Cox regression model was used to analyze the independent prognostic factors. Finally, a nomogram and calibration curve were constructed to predict patient survival probability. Of the 1559 patients evaluated, the optimal cutoff values of CEA and CA-125 were 1.44 ng/mL (area under the ROC curve [AUC] 0.601) and 39.77 U/mL (AUC 0.503), respectively. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that pretreatment CEA (hazard ratio [HR] 2.11, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.35-3.28), CA-125 (HR 2.07, 95% CI 1.31-3.27), age >70 years (HR 12.54, 95% CI 5.05-31.11), myometrial invasion >50% (HR 1.69, 95% CI 1.03-2.73), non-endometrioid histology (HR 1.83, 95% CI 1.14-2.95), high-grade tumor (HR 2.41, 95% CI 1.46-3.97), and lymphovascular space invasion (HR 2.32, 95% CI 1.26-4.25) were significant variables associated with overall survival. These factors were used to construct the nomogram model, which showed good concordance and accuracy. Integration of pretreatment CEA and CA-125 in a prognostic nomogram is feasible. Our prediction model has the potential to assist clinicians in guiding appropriate clinical practice.

The Prognostic Value of Preoperative Fibrinogen in Patients with Radical Cholecystectomy

Background and Aims. There is currently a lack of suitable hematological markers as a complement to pathological factors in predicting the prognosis of patients with gallbladder cancer. The study aimed to investigate the clinical value of preoperative fibrinogen levels in assessing the prognosis of patients with gallbladder cancer after radical surgery. Methods. The study retrospectively analyzed 260 gallbladder cancer patients who underwent radical resection. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to calculate the optimal cut-off values of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), and fibrinogen. Besides, univariate and multivariate analyses of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were performed to determine independent markers in peripheral blood. Then, subgroup analyses of fibrinogen in different degrees of differentiation, age, gender, and BMI were performed by log-rank test. Result. The cut-off values of fibrinogen, CEA, and CA19-9 were set at 2.97 g/L, 2.17 ng/mL, and 41.1 U/mL, respectively. The results showed that the preoperative fibrinogen level was associated with tumor size, degree of differentiation, TNM stage, and CA19-9 levels. Multivariate analyses indicated that advanced TNM stage, excessive fibrinogen, CEA, and CA19-9 levels were independent risk factors for postoperative DFS. And gallbladder neck tumors, poor differentiation, cancer nodules, advanced TNM stage, excessive fibrinogen, and CEA levels were independent adverse factors for postoperative OS. Notably, the preoperative excessive fibrinogen was an independent adverse factor for both DFS ( p = 0.044 , HR = 1.629 , 95% CI = 1.014 − 2.618 ) and OS ( p = 0.006 , HR = 2.328 , 95% CI = 1.272 − 4.261 ) in patients with gallbladder cancer. The subgroup analyses further indicated that patients with high-level of fibrinogen had both poorer DFS ( p = 0.002 ) and OS ( p = 0.005 ) than patients with poorly-differentiated gallbladder cancer. And for well-differentiated gallbladder cancer, patients with high fibrinogen levels had poorer OS ( p = 0.004 ), but no significant difference in DFS ( p = 0.062 ). Besides, fibrinogen was more significant in GBC patients with higher BMI (>22.62) or older age (>60 yrs) and was not affected by gender. Conclusion. Elevated preoperative fibrinogen level was independently associated with poor postoperative DFS and OS in patients with gallbladder cancer, especially for poor differentiation.

Clinical Significance of Early Carcinoembryonic Antigen Change in Patients With Nonmetastatic Colorectal Cancer.

BackgroundThis study aimed to evaluate the prognostic significance of preoperative, postoperative, and trajectory changes in carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).MethodsThis retrospective study included patients who underwent surgical resection for nonmetastatic CRC. The optimal cutoff values of preoperative CEA (CEA-pre), early postoperative CEA (CEA-post), and CEA level change (CEA-delta) were determined to maximize the differences in overall survival (OS) among groups. The patients were divided into three groups according to CEA-trend: normal, low CEA-pre; normalized, high CEA-pre/low CEA-post; elevated, high CEA-pre/high CEA-post. The integrated area under the curve (iAUC) was used to compare the discriminatory power of all variables.ResultsA total of 1019 patients diagnosed with stage I–III CRC were enrolled. The optimal cutoff values of CEA level were determined as 2.3 ng/mL for CEA-pre, 2.3 ng/mL for CEA-post, and -0.93 ng/mL for CEA-delta. Although subgroup dichotomization showed that CEA-pre, CEA-post, CEA-delta, and CEA-trend were all associated with OS in univariate analysis, CEA-trend was the only independent prognostic factor in multivariate analysis. The iAUC of CEA-trend was superior to that of CEA-pre, CEA-post, and CEA-delta. Compared with the normal group, the normalized group showed worse OS (p=.0007) in stage II patients but similar OS (p=.067) in stage III patients.ConclusionThe optimal cutoff value of CEA level in the preoperative and postoperative periods was determined to be 2.3 ng/mL, and the combination of CEA-pre and CEA-post showed better prognostic stratification. However, its prognostic significance may differ depending on the CRC stage.

Prognostic Value of the Combination of HB (hemoglobin) and CEA in Resectable Gastric Cancer.

Objective: In order to investigate the prognostic value of a novel biomarker combining serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and hemoglobin (HB) levels in patients with resectable gastric cancer.Introduction: This retrospective study assessed the relationship between CEA, hemoglobin levels, a novel combined prognostic biomarker (HB-CEA) and clinicopathological features of gastric cancer. Their prognostic values in gastric cancer were also analyzed.Materials and Methods: This retrospective study evaluated the CEA, hemoglobin levels and clinicopathological features of patients with resectable gastric cancer. Kaplan-Meier curves, univariate and multivariate Cox proportional models were used to determine the prognostic significance of these factors for overall survival (OS) in the training and validation sets (n=353 and n=388, respectively). Based on optimal cutoff values of CEA and hemoglobin (3.395 ng/mL and 125.5 g/L, respectively), patients were stratified into three groups: HB-CEA=0, 1, and 2 (CEA <3.395 ng/mL and HB ≥125.5 g/L; CEA ≥3.395 ng/mL or HB <125.5 g/L; and CEA ≥3.395 ng/mL and HB <125.5 g/L, respectively).Results: The area under the curve was larger for HB-CEA than for either HB or CEA alone (training set: 0.677, 0.650, and 0.629; validation set: 0.670, 0.605, and 0.605, respectively). HB-CEA was strongly associated with age, tumor size, differentiation, pathological TNM stage (pTNM), depth of tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, and survival status (all p<0.05). A higher HB-CEA score correlated with poor survival (Kaplan-Meier curves, all p<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that HB-CEA was an independent prognostic factor for OS (p<0.05).Conclusion: Preoperative HB-CEA, as a potential novel hematological biomarker, can predict the progression of gastric cancer and the prognosis of patients, and is of great value in guiding clinical practice. Therefore, patients with a higher HB-CEA score should receive more extensive follow-up for early detection and intervention of tumor progression.

Optimal cutoff value of preoperative CEA and CA19-9 for prognostic significance in patients with stage II/III colon cancer.

This unicentric, retrospective cohort study aimed to identify the optimal cutoff values of preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) for the prognosis in patients with stage II/III colon cancer. After excluding 43 patients with CA19-9 levels < 0.2 U/mL, 588 were included. Receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed to determine the optimal cutoff values of CEA and CA 19-9 for disease relapse. The median CEA and CA19-9 values were 3.6 (interquartile range: 2.1-7.2ng/mL) and 14.3 (interquartile range: 8.1-30.0) U/mL, respectively. The optimal cutoff values of CEA and CA19-9 were 5.4ng/mL and 22.4 U/mL, respectively. A multivariate analysis of relapse-free survival (RFS) showed that cancer stage, CEA, and CA19-9 were significant independent factors. The RFS of patients with stages II and III colon cancer was significantly stratified by CEA (< 5.4/ ≥ 5.4ng/mL) and CA19-9 (< 22.4/ ≥ 22.4 U/mL). Prognostication based on the reference values (< 5.0ng/mL for CEA and < 37.0 U/mL for CA19-9) was less significant than that based on the optimal cutoff values. Both elevated CEA and CA19-9 had no value dependency on RFS: RFS curves were similar between extremely elevated CEA (≥ 54.0ng/ml) and intermediate CEA (5.4-54.0ng/ml) and between extremely elevated CA19-9 (≥ 224.0 U/ml) and intermediate CA19-9 (22.4-224.0 U/ml). The optimal cutoff values of preoperative CEA and CA19-9 for RFS were 5.4ng/ml and 22.4 U/mL, respectively, in patients with stages II and III colon cancer. Further relapse risk stratification is possible using these values.

High CFP score indicates poor prognosis and chemoradiotherapy response in LARC patients

BackgroundPreoperative tumor markers, inflammation, and nutritional status are considered important predictors of prognosis and tumor response in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) patients. This study aims to explore the prognostic and predictive role of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), the Fibrinogen-Albumin Ratio Index (FARI), the Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) in LARC patients and compared them with a novel combined CEA-FARI-PNI (CFP) scoring system.MethodsA total of 138 LARC patients undergoing radical surgery following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NCRT) between January 2012 and March 2019 were enrolled. The X-tile program was used to determine the optimal cut-off values of CEA, FARI, and PNI, and CFP scoring system was constructed accordingly. The prognostic ability of these factors was assessed by the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, Kaplan–Meier, Cox regression, and logistic regression. Nomogram was established to evaluate the predictive role of these factors in tumor response.ResultsThe optimal cut-off values of CEA, FARI, and PNI were 5.15 ng/l, 10.56%, and 42.25 g/L, respectively. The time-dependent ROC curve showed that compared to CEA, FARI, and PNI, CFP showed stable predictive efficacy for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). In multivariate analysis, CFP was the only factor that could independently predict OS (HR = 8.117, p = 0.001) and DFS (HR = 4.994, p < 0.001). Moreover, high CFP (OR = 3.693, p = 0.002) was also an independent risk factor of poor response. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of the nomograms for predicting tumor response was better including CFP (0.717) than without CFP (0.656) (p < 0.05).ConclusionsThe CFP score was a more reliable marker for predicting OS, DFS, and NCRT efficacy in LARC patients, and the score could apparently improve predicted efficacy of the nomogram.

A simple method for discrimination of carcinomatous meningitis using CEA, total protein, and total cell count in the cerebrospinal fluid of primary lung cancer patients.

Carcinomatous meningitis (CM) is a critical issue for physicians. However, no study has reported a simple and useful diagnostic or predictive marker for CM.This study aimed to elucidate the potential markers for diagnosing CM derived from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).We retrospectively enrolled 78 lung cancer patients with suspected CM during the clinical course, including 42 CM and 36 non-CM patients. We compared the clinical and CSF findings, including carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), between CM and non-CM patients, and explored the diagnostic markers for early identification of CM as well as the contributing factors for mortality.On CSF analysis, with cutoff values of CEA ≥5 ng/ml, total protein (TP) in CSF ≥45 g/dl, and total cell count (TCC) ≥7 cells/μL, the sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) for CM were 85.7%, 84.6%, and 0.887 (95% CI: 0.758–1.0, P < .001); 80.5%, 69.4%, and 0.755 (95% CI: 0.646–0.865, P < .001); and 56.1%, 100%, and 0.817 (95% CI: 0.722–0.912, P < .001), respectively. TP levels in CSF ≥the patients’ age had a sensitivity, specificity, and an AUC of 48.8%, 77.8%, and 0.633 (95% CI: 0.722–0.912, P = .045) for CM, respectively. Among CM patients, patients with ‘TP in CSF (>patients’ age)” (n = 19, P = .008) showed significantly shorter 90-day survival probability than the residual patients (n = 20). None of the CSF parameters could predict the risk of mortality on Cox regression analysis.The cutoff value of CEA ≥5 ng/ml in CSF is a simple and useful method with a high diagnostic value for CM diagnosis, but not a suitable predicting factor for mortality. ‘TP in CSF >patients’ age” might be a novel factor for assessing short-term mortality.

Association of postoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) with disease-free survival in patients with stage III colon cancer: ACHIEVE phase III randomized clinical trial.

4069 Background: ACHIEVE, as part of the IDEA collaboration, was a multicenter trial randomizing patients with stage 3 resected colon cancer to either 3 versus 6 months of adjuvant FOLFOX/CAPOX. We previously reported that the hazard ratios (HRs) in disease-free survival (DFS) of 3 versus 6 months duration according to risk stage (low-risk [T1-3 and N1] or high-risk [T4 or N2]) and regimen (FOLFOX or CAPOX) as well as in overall population were consistent with those observed in the whole IDEA. This study aimed to clarify the significance of post-operative serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) on DFS in stage 3 colon cancer. Methods: Eligibility included post-operative serum CEA value of ≤10 ng/ml at registration in the ACHIEVE trial, which enrolled 1313 patients between 2012 and 2014, out of whom 1291 pts were the modified ITT (mITT) population and used in this study. The cutoff values of CEA analyzed for prognostic analyses were the median value (1.8 ng/ml) in the mITT, the upper limit of normal (ULN) level (5.0 ng/ml), and the half of ULN (2.5 ng/ml). The association of post-operative CEA with DFS were measured by Cox regression analyses. Results: Of the 3 cutoff values, the ULN (5.0 ng/ml) was associated with DFS more strongly than the median (1.8 ng/ml) or half of ULN (2.5 ng/ml), with a HR of 1.75 (95%CI, 1.24-2.46) (Table). The 99 patients (7.7%) were identified as the CEA &gt; ULN and 1192 (92.3%) as &lt; ULN. In univariate analysis, regimen (CAPOX or FOLFOX), ECOG PS (0 or 1), T factor (T1-3 or T4), N factor (N1 or N2-3) and CEA ( &lt; ULN or &gt; ULN) were significantly associated with DFS. Multivariate Cox regression identified CEA &gt; ULN as an independent poor risk factor (HR = 1.45; 95%CI, 1.03-2.05). Shorter DFS in patients with CEA &gt; ULN than in those with CEA &lt; ULN was consistently observed in each subgroup of baseline factors, including treatment duration, regimen, age, gender, PS, T-stage, N-stage, no of lymph nodes examined, and tumor location; no interaction was observed between CEA and these factors. Conclusions: Post-operative serum CEA is also a strong prognostic factor for DFS in stage 3 colon cancer. Clinical trial information: 000008543 . [Table: see text]

&lt;p&gt;Prognostic Value of the Combination of CEA and Fibrinogen/Albumin Ratio in Resectable Gastric Cancer&lt;/p&gt;

PurposeTo investigate the prognostic value of combined serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels and fibrinogen/albumin ratio (FAR) in patients with resectable gastric cancer (GC).IntroductionThis retrospective study evaluated the CEA, fibrinogen, and albumin levels and other clinicopathological features of GC patients. The prognostic significance of these factors for overall survival (OS) was assessed using Kaplan–Meier curves and univariate and multivariate Cox proportional models.Patients and MethodsA total of 267 patients were included. The optimal cutoff values of CEA and FAR were 3.2 ng/mL and 0.086, respectively. Patients were stratified into three groups based on this cutoff value: CEA-FAR=0 (CEA <3.2 ng/mL and FAR <0.086), CEA-FAR=1 (CEA ≥3.2 ng/mL or FAR ≥0.086), and CEA-FAR=2 (CEA ≥3.2 ng/mL and FAR ≥0.086).ResultsHigher CEA-FAR was strongly associated with age, tumor size, tumor invasion, lymph node status, and TNM stage (all P<0.05). The OS rates differed significantly between these 3 groups (88.9% vs 65.0% vs 46.9%, P<0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that CEA-FAR was an independent prognostic factor for OS (P<0.001). The area under the curve was larger for CEA-FAR than for either CEA or FAR alone (0.683, 0.644, and 0.669, respectively).ConclusionPreoperative CEA-FAR could be a potential blood marker for predicting tumor progression and the prognosis of GC patients. Patients with a higher CEA-FAR should undergo extensive follow-up.

Independent prognostic impact of preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen and cancer antigen 15-3 levels for early breast cancer subtypes

BackgroundAlthough the prognosis for operable breast cancers is reportedly worse if serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cancer antigen 15-3 (CA15-3) levels are above normal, the usefulness of this prognosis is limited due to the low sensitivity and specificity; in addition, the optimal cutoff levels remain unknown.MethodsA total of 1076 patients who were operated for breast cancers (test set = 608, validation set = 468) without evidence of metastasis were recruited, and their baseline and postoperative serum CEA and CA15-3 levels were analyzed. The optimal cutoff values of CEA and CA15-3 for disease-free survival (DFS) were 3.2 ng/mL and 13.3 U/mL, respectively, based on receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the curve analyses.ResultsThe DFS of patients with high CEA levels (CEA-high: n = 191, 5-year DFS 70.6%) was significantly worse (p < 0.0001) than that of CEA-low patients (n = 885, 5-year DFS 87.2%). There was a significant difference in DFS (p < 0.0001) between CA15-3-high and CA15-3-low patients (n = 314 and n = 762, respectively; 5-year DFS 71.8 vs. 89.3%). Significant associations between DFS and CA15-3 levels were observed irrespective of the subtypes. Multivariable analysis indicated that tumor size, lymph node metastasis, tumor grade, and CEA (p = 0.0474) and CA15-3 (p < 0.0001) levels were independent prognostic factors (hazard ratio [HR] 1.520, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.005–2.245 for CEA; HR 2.088, 95% CI 1.457–2.901 for CA15-3).ConclusionsThese findings suggest that CEA and CA15-3 levels might be useful for predicting the prognosis of patients with operable early breast cancer irrespective of the subtype. Serum levels at baseline may reflect tumor characteristics for metastatic potential even when these levels are within the normal ranges.

Preoperative Serum Markers Prognostic Evaluation in Colon Cancer Patients

Aim: Demonstrate that preoperative tumor markers are prognostic factor in colon rectal cancer and their high levels are correlated with bad prognosis.Methods: We retrospectively analyzed two hundred and thirty-one patients affected by colorectal cancer who underwent radical surgery between January 2012 and August 2016 from a prospectively collected database. The study group consisted of 224 patients: 132 men and 92 women. Demographic details, surgical procedure, histopathologic diagnosis, and survival data were prospectively collected and retrospectively reviewed for this study. Normal cut off values for Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and Carbohydrate Antigen 19.9 (CA 19.9) were respectively 5 ng/ml and 35 UI/ml. A P-value<0.05 was deemed to be statistically significant.Results: Tumor location was 94 times on ascending colon (42%), 13 on transverse colon (5.8%), 77 on descending colon (34.4%) and 40 on rectum (17.8%). All tumors were histologically diagnosed as adenocarcinoma of the colon-rectum and staged according to the TNM staging system. Preoperative serum CEA level was significantly associated only with T stage and serum albumin level; whereas there were no statistically significant differences between preoperative serum CA19.9 and patients’ clinical pathologic characteristics. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) showed a statistically significant difference in the two groups of patients who are dichotomized according to the normal cut-off value of CEA and Ca 19.9. At the multivariate analysis both preoperative CEA and Ca 19.9 resulted as independent prognostic factor for survival with a p<0.05.Conclusion: These two tumor markers could have a role as prognostic factors leading to a stricter postsurgical follow up in those patients with elevated preoperative values.Core tip: Preoprative measurement of Cea and Ca19.9 is a cheap and routine exam. Their role could help to identify patients with poor prognosis in the preoperative period and to strictly follow up them in the post-surgical setting.

Preoperative Serum Carcinoembryonic Antigen Level as a Prognostic Factor for Recurrence and Survival After Curative Resection Followed by Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Stage III Colon Cancer.

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is the most widely used tumor marker in colon cancer; however, there has been controversy regarding the significance of preoperative serum CEA level as a prognostic factor for recurrence. In this study, we evaluated the optimal cutoff value and prognostic significance of preoperative serum CEA level in stage III colon cancer. Based on a retrospective cohort of 965 patients with stage III colon cancer who underwent elective curative surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy with fluoropyrimidine and oxaliplatin (training set), we determined the optimal cutoff value of CEA for recurrence using the Contal and O'Quigley method. We assessed the prognostic value of this cutoff value in terms of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in a prospective cohort of 268 patients with stage III colon cancer (validation set). A Cox proportional hazards model was used to explore the association of prognostic variables with DFS and OS. The statistically determined best cutoff value for CEA was 3ng/mL in the training set. A high CEA level (≥3ng/mL) was associated with inferior DFS (hazard ratio [HR] 4.609, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.028-10.474) and OS (HR 3.956, 95% CI 1.127-13.882) in the validation set, while multivariate analysis showed that a high CEA level was an independent risk factor for DFS and OS in both study subsets. Preoperative serum CEA level is an independent prognostic factor for DFS and OS in patients with stage III colon cancer after curative resection and adjuvant chemotherapy.

Individualized Cutoff Value of the Serum Carcinoembryonic Antigen Level According to TNM Stage in Colorectal Cancer

See Article on Page 106-114 Serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is the most widely used tumor marker for the management of colorectal cancer. The preoperative serum CEA level has been reported to be one of prognostic parameters for the recurrence of colorectal cancers [1, 2]. Postoperative monitoring of the serum CEA level has been commonly used in the follow-up for colorectal cancers [3]. However, whether the preoperative serum CEA level has a prognostic significance according to individual stages in patients with colorectal cancer is controversial [4-7]. Harrison et al. [6] analyzed a large cohort of node-negative colon cancer patients (T1-4, N0, M0) to determine prognostic factors. The study demonstrated that the preoperative serum CEA elevation (>5 ng/mL) had a poor prognostic value in node-negative patients (T1-4, N0, M0). Another study showed that 5 ng/mL, as cutoff value for serum CEA, had no significant prognostic value within the different Dukes' stages and had borderline prognostic value in the Dukes' C stage [7]. Those trials to identify the prognostic value of serum CEA elevation within individual stages have some limitations. The biochemical characters of serum CEA are not well known. For those trials, hypotheses are necessary. Serum CEA has other biochemical characters, but not as a marker to predict increasing size of tumor or metastasis to lymph nodes. Serum CEA might be a sensitive marker, represents size and metastasis. Few studies have reported optimal cutoff values for serum CEA levels in patients with colorectal cancer. Reiter et al. [8] reported the results of a multivariate analysis of the prognostic value of serum CEA level in colorectal cancer. For preoperative serum CEA levels of ≥4 ng/mL vs. 4 ng/mL and 10 ng/mL vs. 17 ng/mL) (P < 0.001). According to stage, a significant difference in survival was observed only in patients with stage III tumors (P = 0.007). In this study, the authors tried to determine the individual optimal cutoff value of CEA according to TNM stage [10]. The conventional cutoff value of CEA (5 ng/mL) has no significant prognostic value in stage T1-2, N0 and stage T1-4, N2. Optimal cutoff values from the receiver operating characteristic curve were 7.4, 5.5 and 4.5 ng/mL for TNM stages I, II and III, respectively. Those for stages N0, N1 and N2 were 5.5, 4.8 and 3.5 ng/mL, respectively. The 5-year disease free survivals were significantly different with these cutoff values for each TNM and N stages. However, one has to consider that a sub-normal CEA level may be a cutoff value that can be used as a prognostic marker.

Individualized Cutoff Value of the Preoperative Carcinoembryonic Antigen Level is Necessary for Optimal Use as a Prognostic Marker

PurposeCarcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is an important prognostic marker in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, in some stages, it does not work. We performed this study to find a way in which preoperative CEA could be used as a constant prognostic marker in harmony with the TNM staging system.MethodsPreoperative CEA levels and recurrences in CRC were surveyed. The distribution of CEA levels and the recurrences in each TNM stage of CRC were analyzed. An optimal cutoff value for each TNM stage was calculated and tested for validity as a prognostic marker within the TNM staging system.ResultsThe conventional cutoff value of CEA (5 ng/mL) was an independent prognostic factor on the whole. However, when evaluated in subgroups, it was not a prognostic factor in stage I or stage III of N2. A subgroup analysis according to TNM stage revealed different CEA distributions and recurrence rates corresponding to different CEA ranges. The mean CEA levels were higher in advanced stages. In addition, the recurrence rates of corresponding CEA ranges were higher in advanced stages. Optimal cutoff values from the receiver operating characteristic curves were 7.4, 5.5, and 4.5 ng/mL for TNM stage I, II, and III, respectively. Those for N0, N1, and N2 stages were 5.5, 4.8, and 3.5 ng/mL, respectively. The 5-year disease-free survivals were significantly different according to these cutoff values for each TNM and N stage. The multivariate analysis confirmed the new cutoff values to be more efficient in discriminating the prognosis in the subgroups of the TNM stages.ConclusionIndividualized cutoff values of the preoperative CEA level are a more practical prognostic marker following and in harmony with the TNM staging system.