Clinical correlations of carcinoembryonic antigen in post-operative patients with epithelial ovarian cancer

Abstract

Plasma CEA as a tumor marker was studied in 681 postoperative patients with invasive epithelial cancer of the ovary. The sensitivity of a single CEA value was low in correlating with tumor burden, relapse status or in predicting subsequent relapse. The false negative rate was high. Serial samples were helpful in predicting relapse in a small number of patients where the value was persistently high. CEA showed greater sensitivity and prognostic value in patients with the mucinous tumor subtype, than other histologies. A clinically useful role for CEA is likely to be restricted to small subsets of patients, such as those with mucinous tumors where CEA may have a complementary role with other markers. A change in assay method during the course of the study resulted in a weakening of the value of CEA as a tumor marker.