[Tumor markers of pancreatic cancer]

To determine the clinical usefulness for diagnosis and monitoring of pancreatic tumor markers, serum levels of CA 19-9 (RIA; less than or equal to 37U/ml), POA (EIA; less than 11 U/ml), CEA (EIA; less than or equal to 4.4 ng/ml) and TPA (RIA; less than or equal to 110 U/ml) were measured in 57 patients with pancreatic cancer and 25 patients with benign diseases of the pancreas. Frequencies of elevation for pancreatic cancers were 73.9% for CA 19-9, 69.2% for POA, 48.9% for CEA and 73.2% for TPA. Furthermore, the frequencies of elevation at relatively early stages of pancreatic cancer were not high. It was therefore thought that these markers were unsuitable for early diagnosis of pancreatic cancers. Although serum levels of CA 19-9 and POA in cases of pancreatic cancer were distributed up to on extremely high level, those for benign diseases of the pancreas were located up to twice the values of the cut-off levels. Therefore, these two markers seem promising for differentiating preoperatively between pancreatic cancer and benign diseases of the pancreas. CA 19-9 and POA were also useful for monitoring the recurrence of pancreatic cancer. In particular, patients with high preoperative levels seem good candidates for postoperative monitoring.