This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Inadequacy for Early Detection

Charles G. Moertel, MD; Allan J. Schutt, MD; Vay L. W. Go, MD

JAMA. 1978;239(11):1065-1066.

Abstract
Serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) tests were performed on 36 patients with histologically proved locally recurrent or residual malignant disease after resection of colorectal carcinoma but with no clinical evidence of distant metastasis. Only nine patients (25%) had abnormal CEA levels of greater than 5 ng/ml despite the fact that most patients had had symptoms of recurrence for several months. Among the nine of our patients, none had CEA values greater than 5 ng/ml, and only three had levels greater than 2.5 ng/ml (3.4, 3.8, and 4.7 ng/ml). The CEA assay is not a sensitive test for early detection of recurrence of colorectal carcinoma.

(JAMA 239:1065-1066, 1978)

Author Affiliations
From the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Mayo Clinic, 200 First St SW, Rochester, MN 55901 (Dr Moertel).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Kinetics of Serum Tumor Marker Concentrations and Usefulness in Clinical Monitoring
Bidart et al.
Clin. Chem. 1999;45:1695-1707.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Intraoperative Single-Dose Radiotherapy: Observations on Staging and Interstitial Treatment of Unresectable Liver Metastases
Nauta et al.
Arch Surg 1987;122:1392-1395.
ABSTRACT  

Hepatic Resection of Metastatic Colorectal Carcinoma: A Ten-Year Experience
Logan et al.
Arch Surg 1982;117:25-28.
ABSTRACT  

Clinical Value of Carcinoembryonic Antigen: Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Follow-up of Patients With Cancer
Beatty et al.
Arch Surg 1979;114:563-567.
ABSTRACT