Correlation between carcinoembryonic antigen in gastric cancer tissue and survival of patients with gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer specimens obtained from 162 patients who had undergone radical surgery with the routine postoperative administration of both mitomycin C and 5-fluorouracil were stained for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) by the unlabeled antibody enzyme technique. The CEA (-/+) group (92 cases) consisting of the negative and weakly positive staining cases had a significantly better survival rate over a period of 5 years than the CEA (++) group (70 cases) which comprised only strongly positive cases. The CEA (-/+) group with differentiated adenocarcinoma had the best prognosis and the 5-year survival rate was significantly higher than those of the other three groups. Among stage II and III carcinomas, the postoperative survival rate was significantly better in the CEA (-/+) group than in the CEA (++) group. Among the patients with lymph node metastasis, the postoperative survival rate was low, especially in the CEA (++) group. The present data suggest that staining for CEA in tissue sections of stomach carcinoma may be helpful in differentiating among tumors that appear similar by conventional histological methods, thus providing a new means for obtaining more precise prognostic information.