Tissue carcinoembryonic antigen in the prognosis of early invasive breast cancer.

Twenty-five patients with stage II ductal breast carcinoma followed up for ten years were studied for the presence of tissue carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). Overall expression of CEA was 60%. The ten year survival rate was significantly higher for patients with CEA-negative tumours (70%) than for patients with CEA-positive tumours (27%), while the difference between the survival rate of patients with (30%) or without (53%) lymph node involvement did not reach significance. Among the 10 patients with lymph node involvement, CEA-negative patients had a better outcome. These results suggest that there is a correlation between the presence of tissue CEA and the prognosis of the disease, and that CEA status might possibly be more important than lymph node involvement, at least within stage II breast carcinomas.