The role of tumour markers in improving the accuracy of conventional chestX-ray and liver echography in the post-operative detection of thoracic andliver metastases from breast cancer

The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the value of a serum tumo ur marker panel in selecting from among the patients with equivocal chest X -ray (CXR) or liver echography (LE) those with thoracic or liver metastases respectively Between January 1984 and December 1999, 467 (341 non-relapsed and 126 metastatic) breast cancer patients were followed-up postoperativel y. Among the 126 metastatic patients 36 showed thoracic (19 patients) or li ver (17 patients) metastases, alone or in conjunction with other organs as the first evidence of distant spread. We focused an this series of 377 pati ents including 341 non-relapsed plus 36 with liver or thoracic metastases. The patients were followed-up after mastectomy with serial determinations o f a panel of CEA-TPA-CA15.3 tumour markers, bone scintigraphy, CXR and LE. Up to December 1999, equivocal CXR occurred in 23 (6.1%) patients of whom 1 1 (47.8%) developed thoracic metastases; 14 (3.1%) patients showed an equiv ocal LE of whom 5 developed liver metastases. In the 37 patients with equiv ocal CXR or equivocal LE prolonged clinical and imaging follow-up over 41 /- 36 months (mean +/- SD, range 3-163) was used to ascertain the presence or absence of thoracic or liver metastases. In the 23 patients with equivoc al CXR the negative and positive predictive values of the tumour marker pan el to predict thoracic metastases were 92% and 100% respectively In the 14 patients with equivocal LE the negative and positive predictive Values of t he tumour marker panel for prediction of liver metastases were 90% and 100% respectively. This study shows that in breast cancer patients the CEA-TPA- CA15.3 tumour marker panel has a high value for selecting those patients at high risk of developing clinically evident pulmonary or liver metastases f rom amongst those subjects with equivocal CXR or equivocal LE. (C) 2000 Can cer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.com.