[The diagnostic significance of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 in pancreatic carcinomas]

CA 19-9 is a carbohydrate antigen isolated from a human colon carcinoma cell line and reportedly related to gastrointestinal cancers and important for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The present study was aimed at evaluating the diagnostic significance of CA 19-9 by determining serum and pancreatic juice CA 19-9 in 432 and 86 subjects, respectively, including pancreatic cancer patients, normal persons, and patients with a variety of benign and malignant gastrointestinal diseases. An increase of serum CA 19-9 was found in 73% of pancreatic cancer patients, 50% had levels higher than 120 mu/ml, and both of these were significantly higher than normal persons and patients with benign and other malignant diseases. CA 19-9 in the pancreatic juice of pancreatic cancer patients was significantly elevated, whereas in chronic pancreatitis patients it was entirely normal, indicating that CA 19-9 is a valuable tumor marker important for the differential diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.