Short-term and long-term monitoring of the serum level of TPA after radical resection of gastrointestinal or lung cancer.

Radically operated tumour patients (gastrointestinal cancer, n = 10; lung cancer, n = 10) were subjected to continuous prospective monitoring of the serum level of tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) prior to surgical treatment as well as during the subsequent year. The following observations were made: Immediately after radical surgery the serum level of TPA fell temporarily. During the first 2 weeks following this initial decrease, the serum level of TPA rose. In view of the radical surgical treatment the patients had undergone, this finding is interpreted as being not caused directly by the tumour but by tissue repair or proliferation. It is concluded that the first postoperative control of the serum concentration of TPA should be performed not earlier than 4 weeks after tumour resection. If the level of TPA increased after these 4 weeks, the suspicion of a tumour relapse or metastasization was raised. In single cases, a transient rise of serum TPA may not be due directly to the tumour but to other events, e.g. intercurrent infection. In general, the course of the serum level of TPA did not exhibit a marked difference between patients with gastrointestinal and lung cancer.