“…A positive correlation with survival was reported for patients with lung cancer (Concannon et al, 1978;Vincent et al, 1979;Stokes et al, 1980;Ford et al, 1981) and colorectal cancer (Kohler et al, 1980;Staab et al, 1981), a positive correlation with disease recurrence was reported for patients with resected colorectal cancer (Wanebo et al, 1978;Evans et al, 1978;Goslin et al, 1980) and cervix cancer (Kjorstad & 0rjasaeter, 1982). The prognostic significance of the preoperative CEA level was still evident when selected subgroups of patients with distinct resectability and tumour extension were examined (Staab et al, 1981) thus representing a prognostic marker independent of resectability and clinical staging. These findings open up the possibility of including preoperative measurements of serum CEA concentration in the set of prognostic parameters, such as resectability and tumour extension, which can be established within a few days, during hospitalization of patients for primary treatment.…”