Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in patients with malignant and non-malignant diseases

Serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) concentration was found to be raised in 503 of 550 patients (91%) with bladder cancer, lymphoma of intestine, hepatocellular carcinoma, bronchogenic carcinoma, prostate cancer, cirrhosis of liver and bilharziasis. The degree of elevation was moderate in all patients except in 189 patients in whom values more than 20 ng/ml were recorded, of which 53 patients with bladder cancer and 118 patients with bilharziasis. The mean CEA value in the patients with cirrhosis in the non-tumorous liver was slightly higher than that in those without cirrhosis, but the difference did not reach statistical significance (P greater than 0.01). There was no correlation between serum CEA and alph-fetoprotein (AFP) levels in all patients except in patients with bladder carcinoma, hepatoma and bilharziasis.