Prognostic value of increased postoperative carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with early intestinal anastomosis leakage who underwent right hemicolectomy surgery

Abstract

<b> Introduction:</b> Anastomotic leak after colorectal surgery is a serious complication that causes significant postoperative morbidity and mortality. </br></br> <b>Aim:</b> This study aimed to investigate the predictive value of increased postoperative carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in early intestinal anastomosis leakage in patients who underwent right hemicolectomy surgery.</br></br> <b>Material and methods:</b> In this prospective study, 535 patients who underwent right colon cancer surgery with stapled anastomosis were enrolled. A subset of 315 patients was included in the study after meeting the inclusion criteria. Preoperatively, their serum CEA levels were measured, and on postoperative days 3 and 6, the levels were measured again.</br></br> <b>Results:</b> Early AL occurred in 18 patients (5.71%). The mean ± SD age of patients was 65.06 ± 11.69 years. Increased CEA level was associated with increased odds of intestinal AL among the patients after three and six days of surgery (OR after three days = 1.3; 95%CI = 1.1–1.5, OR after six days = 1.7 95%CI = 1.14–2.5). The mean CEA level significantly increased among patients with anastomose leakage (P-value < 0.001). </br></br> <b>Conclusion:</b> The results showed that increasing CEA levels can be used as one of the non-invasive markers in detecting early AL in patients with right colon cancer surgery.