Carcinoembryonic antigen and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 are prognostic predictors of colorectal cancer with unresectable liver metastasis

No evidence currently exists to demonstrate the prognostic value of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) in patients with unresectable colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRLM). Therefore, we retrospectively investigated the correlation between serum CEA and CA 19-9 levels and overall survival in patients with unresectable CRLM. The study involved 40 patients who were diagnosed with unresectable CRLM between March 2000 and August 2010 at Jikei University Hospital, Japan. We retrospectively investigated the correlation between patient characteristics, including serum CEA and CA 19-9 levels, and overall survival using univariate and multivariate analyses. In the univariate analysis, the absence of primary tumor resection (p=0.0161), the absence of systemic chemotherapy (p=0.0119), serum CEA >= 100 ng/ml (p=0.0148) and CA19-9 >= 100 U/ml (p<0.0001) were significant predictors of poor survival. In the multivariate analysis, the absence of systemic chemotherapy (p=0.0356), serum CEA >= 100 ng/ml (p=0.0079) and CA 19-9 >= 100 U/ml (p=0.0002) were independent predictors. Serum CEA and CA 19-9 levels are therefore independent prognostic predictors of survival in patients with unresectable CRLM.