Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 27, 2025
Orthotopic Implantation and Peripheral Immune Cell Monitoring in the II-45 Syngeneic Rat Mesothelioma Model
Published on: October 2, 2015
Comparative Assessment of Two Strategies for Interpreting Tumor Markers in Ascitic Effusions
Jaume Trapé1,2, Francesc Sant2,3, Jesus Montesinos4
1Department of Laboratory Medicine, Althaia Xarxa Assistencial Universitària de Manresa, Manresa, Spain jtrape@althaia.cat.
Background/Aim:
There are two strategies for the interpretation of tumor markers (TM) in fluid effusions: i) high cut-off and ii) fluid/serum ratio (F/S) and low cut-off. The objective of this study is to compare these two strategies and to determine whether diagnostic accuracy improves by the identification of possible false positives using Adenosine deaminase (ADA), C reactive protein (CRP) and % of polymorphonuclear cells (%PN).
Patients And Methods:
We studied 157 ascitic fluids, 74 of which were malignant. ADA, CRP and %PN were determined in ascitic fluid, and Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), Cancer antigen 72-4 (CA72-4), Cancer antigen CA19-9 and Cancer antigen 15-3 (CA15-3) in both fluid and serum.
Results:
The strategy of high cut-off showed 59.5% sensitivity at 100% specificity. The F/S strategy showed 75.7% sensitivity at 95.2% specificity. Subclassifying cases with ADA, CRP and %PN negative showed 67.5% sensitivity at 100% specificity for high cut-off and for the F/S strategy was 81.7% sensitivity at 98.7% specificity.
Conclusion:
The strategy of F/S with negative ADA, CRP and %PN allow the best interpretation for TM in the ascitic fluid.
