Thirteen clinicopathologic variables, preoperative serum CEA levels,
PCNA LI,
DNA ploidy patterns, and survival were studied for 57
colorectal carcinoma patients, and the mutual relation between these variables,
tumor progression, and survival were analyzed.
RESULTS: Seven variable including undifferentiated
adenocarcinoma, deep invasion, lymphatic and venous invasion, node
metastasis, liver
metastasis, and advanced stages were significantly greater for patients with positive CEA ( > 5.0 ng/mL) than for patients with negative CEA ( < 5.0 ng/ML). Three variables including deep invasion, liver
metastasis, and advanced stages were significantly greater for patients with high
PCNA LI ( > 49.4%) than for patients with low
PCNA LI ( < 49.4%). No significant difference was observed in any of the variable for patients with
DNA diploid or
aneuploid cancer. A close relationship representing a formula, Y (log CEA, ng/mL) = 0.026X (
PCNA LI, %) - 0.478, was found between CEA level and
PCNA LI: Survival curves for patients with negative CEA and low
PCNA LI were significantly greater than those for patients with positive CEA and high
PCNA LI: Survival curves were significantly greater for patients with positive CEA and low
PCNA LI than for patients with positive CEA and high
PCNA LI: However, no significant difference was observed in the survival curves of patients with different
DNA ploidy patterns.
CONCLUSIONS: Serum CEA and
PCNA LI for
cancer patients is useful in the evaluation of
tumor progression and in prognosis. Analysis of
DNA ploidy appears to be unavailable for this evaluation.