Abraham Deepak, Delbridge Leigh, Clifton-Bligh Roderick, Clifton-Bligh Phillip, Grodski Simon, Robinson Bruce G, Messina Marinella, Sidhu Stan
University of Sydney Endocrine Surgical Unit, Royal North Shore Hospital, St. Leonard's 2065 NSW, Australia.
ANZ J Surg. 2010 Nov;80(11):831-3. doi: 10.1111/j.1445-2197.2010.05350.x.
Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a tumour marker commonly associated with gastrointestinal malignancy. Patients presenting with an elevated CEA will therefore often undergo extensive investigations in order to elucidate an underlying gastrointestinal malignancy that may not be clinically apparent. However the GI tract is not the only source of CEA elevation.
We present a series of patients presenting with raised CEA levels that were initially investigated for a gastrointestinal cause, but after work up were detected to have medullary thyroid cancer.
Four patients with raised CEA were evaluated for a gastrointestinal cause for the elevation. We discuss the non gastrointestinal causes for an elevated CEA.
The paper highlights that in patients presenting with an elevated CEA, in whom a gastrointestinal cause has been ruled out, a tumour of neuroendocrine origin needs to be considered as a cause for the elevated CEA.
癌胚抗原（CEA）是一种通常与胃肠道恶性肿瘤相关的肿瘤标志物。因此，癌胚抗原水平升高的患者常常会接受广泛的检查，以查明可能在临床上并不明显的潜在胃肠道恶性肿瘤。然而，胃肠道并非导致癌胚抗原升高的唯一原因。
我们报告了一系列癌胚抗原水平升高的患者，这些患者最初因胃肠道病因接受检查，但检查后被诊断为甲状腺髓样癌。
对4例癌胚抗原升高的患者进行了胃肠道病因评估。我们讨论了癌胚抗原升高的非胃肠道病因。
本文强调，对于癌胚抗原升高且已排除胃肠道病因的患者，需考虑神经内分泌起源的肿瘤作为癌胚抗原升高的原因。
