Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) Monitoring in the Management of Radiotherapeutic Patients

Abstract

We have measured serial carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) titers in 92 patients, randomly selected from the patient population of a Radiotherapeutic Clinic, to correlate with clinical and follow-up evaluation. 57 out of 92 patients had positive CEA levels (2.5 ng/ml) or 62% of proven cancer patients. In this series, 67% (63/92) showed positive correlation between the curves of CEA levels and the clinical evaluation of disease activity. A simple computerized program was designed with the data collection directed to identifying parameters and trends of different groups. Breast CA showed 89% correlation; lung carcinoma showed 80%; large bowel 75%, and other organs showed less. This assay is a prototype study of human response to therapy in relation to tumor antigen and host response, as measured by a nonspecific tumor associated antigen.

The Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA): Past, Present, and Future

“…As for lung cancer, the use of serial serum CEA determinations in the monitoring of patients with surgicallytreated non-small cell lung cancer revealed a sensitivity of 58% in the detection of recurrence; this figure increased to 88% with concomitant analysis of serum CA 125 and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (218). Serial CEA assay may also be useful in a number of other tumors that have been less well studied to date (89,117,137,138,185,172,184,187,188,195,(219)(220)(221)(222)(223)(224)(225)(226)(227)(228)(229). In patients with gastric or esophageal carcinoma, for example, an elevated CEA level during serial follow-up after preoperative chemotherapy has been shown to be predictive of relapse, and has demonstrated the potential for diagnosis of recurrent disease in advance of its clinical presentation (140).…”