[Diagnostic value of the assay of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 in patients with primary bronchial cancer].

We studied the levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) in 90 patients with primary lung cancer. One or both markers were increased in 45 patients (50%): CEA only was increased in 13, CA 19-9 only was increased in 19, and both CEA and CA 19-9 were increased in 13. Increase of markers did not differ according to histologic subtype of cancer. Increase or decrease of the markers (mainly CA 19-9) usually parallelled evolution of the disease in our patients. Thus, measurement of both CEA and CA 19-9 levels are of diagnostic value in half the patients with primary lung cancer.