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Published in: International Journal of Colorectal Disease 4/2013

01-04-2013 | Original Article

Preoperative elevation of carcinoembryonic antigen predicts poor tumor response and frequent distant recurrence for patients with rectal cancer who receive preoperative chemoradiotherapy and total mesorectal excision: a multi-institutional analysis in an Asian population

Authors: Jong Hoon Lee, Sung Hwan Kim, Hong Seok Jang, Hyuk Jun Chung, Seong Taek Oh, Doo Seok Lee, Jun-Gi Kim

Published in: International Journal of Colorectal Disease | Issue 4/2013

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Abstract

Purpose

This study was conducted to evaluate the significance of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level as a predictor for tumor response to chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and a prognosticator for survival in Asian patients with advanced rectal cancer.

Materials and methods

We enrolled 345 patients with primary rectal cancer who had undergone preoperative CRT and total mesorectal excision. We analyzed clinicopathological factors that could be associated with pathologically complete response (ypCR) and disease-free survival (DFS).

Results

A cutoff level of 5 ng/mL (p = 0.002) for CEA was found to be significant for prediction of ypCR. Increased CEA level (p = 0.025) was a significant negative predictor of ypCR after CRT in patients with rectal cancer. The 5-year DFS rate was significantly higher in the CEA ≤5-ng/mL group than in the CEA >5-ng/mL group (73.2 vs. 60.9 %, p = 0.002). This is mainly due to the higher chance of distant recurrence (p = 0.013), not locoregional recurrence (p = 0.732), in the CEA >5-ng/mL group.

Conclusions

Elevated CEA (>5 ng/mL) is a negative predictor of ypCR and has a negative impact on DFS in Asian rectal cancer patients who underwent preoperative CRT and surgery due to an increased chance of distant recurrences.
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Metadata
Title
Preoperative elevation of carcinoembryonic antigen predicts poor tumor response and frequent distant recurrence for patients with rectal cancer who receive preoperative chemoradiotherapy and total mesorectal excision: a multi-institutional analysis in an Asian population
Authors
Jong Hoon Lee
Sung Hwan Kim
Hong Seok Jang
Hyuk Jun Chung
Seong Taek Oh
Doo Seok Lee
Jun-Gi Kim
Publication date
01-04-2013
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
International Journal of Colorectal Disease / Issue 4/2013
Print ISSN: 0179-1958
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1262
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00384-012-1584-6

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