The relationships between perioperative CEA, CA 19‐9, and CA 72‐4 and recurrence in gastric cancer patients after curative radical gastrectomy

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The correlation between perioperative CEA, CA 19-9, and CA 72-4 and recurrence of gastric cancer has not been clarified. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between perioperative CEA, CA 19-9, and CA 72-4 and recurrence of gastric cancer. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the relationships between the tumor markers CEA, CA 19-9, and CA 72-4 and recurrence of gastric cancer. RESULTS: In patients with early gastric cancer, the recurrence sensitivity of postoperative CEA, CA 19-9, and CA 72-4 was 40.0, 5.6, and 2.8%, respectively. And in patients with advanced gastric cancer, the recurrence sensitivity of postoperative CEA, CA 19-9, and CA 72-4 was 100.0, 68.2, and 51.3%, respectively. Multivariate analyses showed that an increase in postoperative CEA in early gastric cancer was an independent prognostic factor of recurrence. In patients with advanced gastric cancer, age >60 years, stage III, and postoperative CEA increase and CA 72-4 increase were independent prognostic factors of recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: For patients with advanced gastric cancer, CEA, CA 19-9, and CA 72-4 are considered useful for follow-up tests. Although, CEA is considered useful for follow-up test for patients with early gastric cancer, but CA19-9 and CA72-4 are less useful due to their low sensitivity.