Clinical usefulness of CEA assay

CEA is a normal constituent of fetal cells, which can reappear in entodermally-derived neoplasms, following a de-repression process. In order to evaluate the correlation between CEA serum levels, pathological stage and histological type of tumour, and to define the usefulness of CEA in monitoring the patients with gastroenteric neoplasms, 177 patients (62 with gastric heteroplasia and 115 with large bowel carcinoma) were tested for CEA; 83 patients had pre-surgical CEA tests. It was observed that CEA positivity (serum levels greater than or equal to 5 ng/ml, employing the technique here outlined), is higher in colonic than in gastric neoplasms, and in adenocarcinomas in comparison with undifferentiated forms, moreover depending on the pathologic stage. 108 patients were tested for CEA several times and a correlation between CEA variations and clinical evolution was observed. This investigation bears out the importance to monitor the patients with gastrointestinal neoplasms with CEA test, before and after surgery, to evaluate the usefulness of surgery and, when necessary, chemotherapy and, eventually, to adopt more suitable chemotherapeutic modalities.