Prognostic value of preoperative serum levels of CEA, CA19-9 and CA72-4 in patients with colorectal cancer

Table 1 Positive rates of CEA, CA19-9 and CA72-4 in accordance with pathologic findings

Pathological factors	No. of cases	CEA positive (%)	P value	CA19-9 positive (%)	P value	CA72-4 positive (%)	P value
Histological type
Well, moderately	73	30.1	> 0.05	24.7	> 0.05	26.0	0.031
Poorly	34	2904		26.4		47.1
Tumor size (cm)
≤ 5	57	31.6	> 0.05	22.8	> 0.05	28.1	> 0.05
> 5	50	28.0		28.0		38.0
Gross morphology
Polypoid, fungating	45	28.9	> 0.05	26.7	> 0.05	33.3	> 0.05
Ulcerative	41	29.3		24.4		31.7
Diffusely infiltrative	21	33.3		23.8		33.3
Depth of invasion*
Within sm	22	13.6	0.016	9.1	0.048	13.6	0.012
dm, s	54	25.9		24.1		29.6
sp	31	48.4		38.7		51.6
No. of positive lymph nodes
0	61	29.5	> 0.05	14.8	0.011	21.3	0.008
1-3	16	31.3		31.3		37.5
> 3	30	30.0		43.3		53.3
Dukes stage
A	8	12.5	0.041	0.0	0.019	0.0	0.003
B	53	20.8		18.9		24.5
C	33	39.4		30.3		39.4
D	13	53.8		53.8		69.2

*sm: Superficial muscularis propria; dm: Deep muscularis propria; s: Serosa layer; sp: Serosal penetration to neighboring organs

Table 2 Recurrence rates in patients with positive and negative serum levels of CEA, CA19-9 and CA72-4 who underwent curative resection

Tumor markers		No. of cases	Recurrence rate (%)	P value
CEA	positive	24	45.8	0.102
	negative	62	27.4
CA19-9	positive	19	52.6	0.034
	negative	67	26.9
CA72-4	positive	24	54.2	0.008
	negative	62	24.2