Impact of preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen, CA 19-9 and alpha fetoprotein levels in gastric cancer patients

The relationship between preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), CA 19-9 and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels and their clinicopathological f eatures were evaluated in gastric cancer patients, The positive rates of CE A, CA 19-9 and AFP were 24.8, 27.6 and 12.7%, respectively. Gastric cancer with deeper tumor invasion was significantly more common among patients pos itive for these tumor markers, Patients with positive CEA or CA 19-9 values had a significantly high risk of lymph node metastases (p = 0.045 and p = 0.002, respectively), Synchronous liver metastases was more commonly found in patients with a positive CA 19-9 value. A significant difference (p < 0. 001) in survival rate was found between patients with positive CA 19-9 valu es and those with negative values. CA 19-9 is useful for the prognosis of g astric cancer patients, whereas CEA, although unsuitable for prognosis, con tributes to the prediction of cancer invasion.