Study of Serum CEA and Ca 19.9 in Esophageal Squamous Carcinoma and ROC Curve Analysis

Abstract

Background: There are very few studies on the comparative diagnostic value of CEA and Ca19.9 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Aims and objectives: The aim of the present study was to access the clinical relevance of CEA and CA19.9 in ESCC and to determine whether combined use of these marker could improve diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. Material and Method: Venous blood Samples were collected from total 68 individuals, divided into two categories, group 1 includes 18 healthy individuals and group 2 includes 50 patients with already diagnosed cases of ESCC prior to any treatment. Tests were performed to estimate the value of CEA and Ca19.9. Different statistical analysis has been performed to derive a clinically meaningful value. Results: The mean serum CEA and CA 19.9 levels and also the ratio of CEA/Ca19.9 were higher in patients with ESCC than healthy subjects. In ESCC, the optimal combination of sensitivity and specificity for CEA were determined as 48% and 94% and for CA19.9 were determined as 76% and 72% respectively, whereas combined analysis of CEA/CA19.9 were lower than individual value in patients. Over all accuracy rate was better with CA19. The diagnostic power of CEA and CA19-9 as a screening test for ESCC were assessed by ROC curve analysis. The cut-off value for CEA and CA19-9 in ESCC were found to be 2.9 2 ng/ml and 7.4 ng/ml and were found to be above the cut-off value in 25 (50%) and 42 (84%) of the patients with ESCC respectively. Conclusion: The results of our study indicated that serum CA19.9 has a higher positivity than serum CEA in esophageal cancer. The combined use of CA19-9 and CEA (ratio) could not increase the diagnostic sensitivity in esophageal cancers in our study.

Keywords

• esophageal , squamous , markers, cea, ca19.9, roc