European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer
and the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide with steadily increasing
mortality rates. The aim of the present study to highlight any relationship between
carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage in
colorectal cancer (CRC) patients that would help in diagnosis and staging of the
disease. Patients and methods: A total of 36 patients with stages IV CRC were
admitted to department of General surgery, Zagazig university hospitals and
underwent surgery. Full medical history, clinical examination, General and specific
investigation were performed for all patients preoperatively.The CEA levels for all
patients were examined preoperatively. Results: Our study showed the mean age of
the studied cases ranged from 29 to 83 years with mean 54.36 years. Regarding sex
63.9% were male. Finally 38.9% were smoker. Most common sites of lesions were
rectum, sigmoid colon & descending colon (44.4%, 19.4% & 13.9% respectively).
The diameter of lesion among cases ranged from 1 to 15 cm with mean 5.94 cm and
38.9% had diameter from 3 to 6 cm. Regarding differentiations most frequent was
moderate and mild (41.7% & 30.6% respectively). CEA level among the studied cases
ranged from 0 to 23 ng/dl with mean 6.39 ng/dl and median 4.5 ng/ml. Also 58.3%
had CEA level ≤ 5 ng/ml. Conclusions: There is a meaningful link between TNM
stage and CEA level. However, normal levels of CEA will not rule out CRC
diagnosis, and it can be concluded that these patients should be investigated in
detail