[Serum levels and clinical evaluation of CA 19-9 in various diseases]

We evaluated the clinical significance of serum CA 19-9 in various cancers, benign diseases and healthy controls. The percentage of positive cases for CA 19-9 (higher than 37 U/ml) was 83% in pancreas cancer, 78% in biliary tract cancer and 75% in urinary tract cancer. Benign diseases showed a low frequency of positive cases for CA 19-9, and their serum levels of CA 19-9 were low. Benign diseases with high serum levels of CA 19-9 were rarely seen, but they were easy to differentiate from malignant tumors by simultaneous examination of other tumor markers. In cancer patients with high serum levels of CA 19-9, CA 19-9 showed a weak positive correlation to CEA and ferritin.