O. Micke et al., The impact of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen in the follow-up afterradiotherapy in patients with cervical cancer, ANTICANC R, 20(6D), 2000, pp. 5113-5115
The impact of Squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC) in the follow-up of pat
ients with cervical cancer treated with radiotherapy was evaluated. 72 pati
ents with a histologically proven squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine ce
rvix were treated at the Department of Radiotherapy and Radiation Ocology,
Munster; Germany. The pretherapeutic serum level of SCC was elevated in 60%
of patients (cut-off-level: 2.5 ng/ml). The median serum level correlated
with the tumor stage. After the end of radiation treatment, 98% of patients
in complete I emission and 87% of patients in partial remission had a seru
m level below the cut-off. In the case of recurrent disease, 71% of patient
s had a significant increase of SCC serum levels before clinical manifestat
ion of relapse. The lending time ranged between one and 16 months (median:
3.1 months). In conclusion, SCC is a useful tumor marker in the follow-lip
of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix.