[The role of tumor markers in diagnosing metastases of gastric cancer: preoperative diagnostics (part I)].

Preoperative indices of cancer embryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigens 19-9(CA)19-9, 72-4(CA)72-4, and alfa-fetaprotein (AFP) in 60 patients with gastric cancer were compared with the results of postoperative staging of the malignant process. It was found that increased concentration of one of the tumor markers were not a significant diagnostic sign of the metastases of gastric cancer. CEA is considered as an exception since its more than one and a half elevation (more than 3.75 ng/ml) suggests the presence of metastases with 80% probability. An increased concentration of any two oncomarkers (CEA, CA19-9, CA 72-4) points to the metastases of gastric cancer with 83.3% probability and usually coincides with the presence of distant metastases. A simultaneous elevation of indices of three tumor markers does not occur in gastric cancer. AFP is not informative in cases of gastric cancer and its dissemination.