Carcinoembryonic antigen in bronchogenic carcinoma

The authors determined carcinoembryonic antigen concentration in the sera of patients with bronchogenic carcinoma, some noncancerous lung diseases and in the sera of healthy subjects in order to assess the contribution of this method to the diagnosis of bronchogenic carcinoma with regard to the morphological type. Increased levels of carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with bronchogenic carcinoma were observed in 32% of cases. Among the morphological types of bronchogenic carcinoma statistically significant differences were not found. The comparison of bronchogenic carcinoma regardless of the type with the groups of noncancerous lung diseases and healthy subjects revealed statistically significant differences.