[Evaluation of CA72-4 as a tumor marker in patients with gastric cancer].

The clinical efficacy of CA72-4 for gastric cancer was studied in comparison with CEA and CA19-9. These 3 markers were examined simultaneously, preoperatively in 156 cases of gastric cancer. The positive rate of CA72-4 was higher than of CA19-9 and was equivalent to CEA. There was no significant difference between differentiated and undifferentiated carcinoma in these 3 markers. However, the positive rates of CEA and CA72-4 were significant higher in the cases with lymph node metastasis and curative grade B, C. The combination assay of CEA and CA72-4 was valuable because the tumor markers were considered to be independent of each other. Cases positive for both CEA and CA72-4 simultaneous were significantly more frequent among the cases with lymph node metastasis and in the serosa-invasive cases. In conclusion, CA72-4 is more important than CA19-9 as a tumor marker in gastric cancer patients.