[Clinical and prognostic significance of determining the carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with gastrointestinal cancer].

The paper discusses the results of a radioimmunologic assay of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels in 100 cases of gastrointestinal cancer. CEA--PRIST kits (Phadebas, Sweden) and NGR-603 automatic gamma-unit (Tesla, Czechoslovakia) were employed. The test proved to be highly instrumental in the preoperative evaluation of prognosis and early detection of recurrence and metastasis. CEA concentrations within 30-50 ng/ml are highly suggestive of recurrence or metastases, whereas 50-100 ng/ml should serve an indicator of organ dissemination. The test is useful in assessing the effectiveness of treatment in the course of follow-up.