Background/aims: Preoperative tumor marker assays have been used to predict the prognosis of gastric cancer, but the exact role they may play is still unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 levels in resectable gastric cancer patients.
Methodology: Seventy-five resectable, nonmetastatic gastric cancer patients were analysed in regard to their clinicopathological characteristics and their relation with tumor markers and influence on survival have been evaluated.
Results: Twenty-eight patients were female and 47 were male. The mean age was 61 years (range 21-85 years). Fifty-two patients had total gastrectomy, and 23 had a subtotal gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection. The median follow up period was 24 months (6-74 months). Elevated serum CA 19-9 levels correlated well with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.008), stage (p = 0.012), vascular invasion (p = 0.03) and tumor size (p = 0.001). The survival of the patients were not correlated with the tumor markers (p > 0.05).
Conclusions: Elevated CA 19-9 levels are significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis, which may improve the selection of patients with advanced disease. CEA and CA 19-9 levels do not provide any predictive information about survival of operable, nonmetastatic gastric cancer patients.