Carcinogenic Embryonic Antigen Levels in Colorectal Carcinoma and its Correlation with Stage of Disease

Objective: To analyze the CEA levels and its comparison with CRC stage using Duke s stage for colon cancer and tumour-node –metastasis( TNM) system for rectal cancer. Study Design: Single centered Retrospective chart review. Place and Duration: King Abdul-Aziz medical city (King Khalid National Guards hospital and Princess Noorah Oncology Center, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia form 2004-2009. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective, single centred case based study. All cases diagnosed as CRC from 2004 to 2009 were studied. Of all 414 cases, CEA data was available in 340 cases while that of T,N,and M was available in 309, 289, and 280 patients respectively. Duke’s stage was available in 340 patients. CEA level more than 5 was considered high. Results: 40% patients had levels more than 5ng/ml. When compared with low and high CEA levels, the difference in the percentage of patients in different N (p value 0.00), M (p value 0.00) and Dukes (p value 0.00) stages was statistically significant while for T stage, age and gender it was not significant. P value was 0.05 for these all. Conclusions: High CEA levels correlate with advanced nodal and distant metastasis.