Clinical significance of measurements of carcinoembryonic antigen in serum of patients with carcinoma of the uterine cervix.

Serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were determined radioimmunologically before initiation of therapy in the serum of 88 patients suffering from carcinoma of the uterine cervix. The overall incidence of elevated CEA levels (above 12 ng/ml) was 43%. There was a positive correlation between the incidence of elevated CEA levels and the clinical stage of disease. CEA levels before treatment had no prognostic value as far as median survival time was concerned. In contrast, CEA levels measured immediately after therapy in patients with initially elevated levels turned out to be of prognostic significance. When the posttreatment concentrations of CEA were within the normal range, the median survival time was longer than 990 days (duration of follow-up). When the CEA levels remained elevated, however, the median survival time was only 291 days. Thus, CEA measurements appear to be an additional tool in the follow-up of