Usefulness of Preoperative Serum CEA Level and Tissue CEA Location as Prognostic Factors of Gastric Cancer

Katsuyuki Kunieda, Tooru Kageyama, Kyoushi Tsuji, Takashi Suhara, Toshiya Hibi, Yasuyuki Sugiyama, Shigetoyo Saji, Kuniyasu Shimokawa*

Second Department of Surgery, Department of Laboratory Medicine*, Gifu University School of Medicine

Usefulness of preoperative serum CEA level and tissue CEA location as prognostic factors of gastric cancer was evaluated. Preoperative serum CEA level were measured in 450 patients who underwent gastrectomy for gastric cancer in our department in the past 8 years. Also, the postoperative outcome of 78 CEA-positive patients and 372 CEA-negative was compared. In 150 patients who had undergone gastrectomy more than 5 years earlier. CEA immunohistochemical staining by the ABC method was performed, and the patients were divided into 4 groups, negative (GO), apical (GI), cytoplasmic (GII) and stromal (GIII). Results: (1) The outcome of the serum CEA-positive group was significantly poorer than that of the serum-negative group. (2) The serum CEA-positive group showed more advanced cancer, such as liver metastasis. (3) The outcome of the tissue CEA-positive group was poorer than that of the tissue CEA-negative group. (4) The survival curves according to tissue CEA location revealed significantly shorter survival in the GI, G0, G (II + III) groups in that order, in both the positive and negative serum CEA groups. These results suggest that preoperative serum CEA and tissue CEA staining (especially tissue CEA location) might be useful indicators for postoperative prognosis of gastric cancer.

Key words
serum carcinoembryonic antigen, tissue carcinoembryonic antigen location, tissue carcinoembryonic antigen, prognosis of gastric cancer, gastric cancer

Reprint requests
Katsuyuki Kunieda Second Department of Surgery, Gifu University School of Medicine
40 Tsukasa-machi, Gifu, 500 JAPAN

Accepted
November 15, 1995

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