Comparison between tissue antigen analysis and plasma determinations for TPA and CEA in transitional cell carcinomas and in tumorfree urothelium of the urinary bladder.

Plasma determinations for TPA and CEA resulted in a sensitivity of 90% and 19-42%, respectively, for urothelial bladder cancer. By immunohistochemical staining TPA was positive in 100% and CEA in about 80% of the cases. The CEA staining in cancer tissue seemed to correlate with the WHO grade. Because TPA resulted in strong positive staining and high sensitivity in the plasma, contrary to CEA, showing less positive staining and a lower sensitivity, there seemed to be a good correlation between staining and plasma sensitivity for both markers.