[The tumor markers CEA and CA-19.9 in patients with colorectal carcinoma]

The levels of two tumor markers--CEA and CA-19.9 were repeatedly determined in 146 patients with histologically verified colo-rectal cancer and in 58 healthy controls. The normal CA-19.9 values were up to 30 U/ml. The sensitivity of the two markers proved to be low: 48.8 per cent for CEA and 37 per cent for CA-19.9. In 26 of 35 patients with local recurrence or metastases marker increase preceded the appearance of clinical symptoms of progression of the pathologic process. The two markers appeared more informative than each of them when separately determined.