Preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen and survival after resection of lung cancer.

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was measured preoperatively in 43 patients who underwent complete resection of primary lung cancer. 7 of 43 patients (17%) had CEA levels in the cancer diagnostic range (greater than 40.9 microgram/litre), non of whom survived longer than 10 months. At two years, it was apparent that those patients with a preoperative CEA less than 21 microgram had a better survival rate than those with a CEA21-40.9 microgram/litre (P less than 0.005).