The clinical efficacy of CA 72-4 as serum marker for gastric cancer in comparison with CA19-9 and CEA.

The clinical efficacy in preoperative assessment with CA72-4 for gastric cancer was studied in comparison with CA19-9 and CEA. These three tumor markers were examined simultaneously, preoperatively in 100 cases (44: early cancer, 56: advanced cancer) of gastric cancer. Additionally the efficacy of CA72-4 in follow-up postoperative monitoring for the recurrence was investigated. Positive rate of CA72-4, CA19-9 and CEA for early cancer was 2.3%, 11.4% and 9.1% and that for advanced cancer was 37.5%, 17.9% and 35.7% respectively, thus CA72-4 gave the highest positive rate for advanced cancers. And CA72-4 revealed higher positive findings in stage IV, in infiltrating type, in diffuse type, in cancer invading deeper than p-T3. Further, CA72-4 was positive in 50% for cancer with peritoneal dissemination, whereas CEA was positive in 8.3%, CA19-9 in 16.3%. The most beneficial combination among these three tumor markers was CA72-4 and CEA, and by which, positive rate was 53.6%. Regarding follow-up, CA72-4 showed first elevation prior to other markers in some cases before clinical recurrence was confirmed. CA72-4 appeared to be a useful marker for managing gastric cancer.