Clinical evaluation of five tumor marker assay in patients with lung cancer

Five tumor markers (CA19-9, CEA, NSE, SCC, TPA) were measured concomitantly in the serum of 128 patients with primary lung cancer (LC), 148 patients with benign disease (B) and 43 normal volunteers. The positive rates for all the tumor markers were significantly higher in the LC group than in the B group. When multiple tumor markers were quantitated, the specificity for the detection of lung cancer became lower although the sensitivity increased. However, this negative point was made up for to some extent by evaluating the number of positive markers. In monitoring the clinical course, independent changes were observed in markers in some cancer patients. These results implied that measuring multiple tumor markers was of clinical value in monitoring the clinical course of cancer patients as well as in assisting the diagnosis of lung cancer.